Deprived Areas Fund

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what Deprived Areas Fund allocation his Department has made to Wandsworth, Southwark and Lambeth district in 2007-08, broken down by ward; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what Deprived Areas Fund allocation his Department has made to Wandsworth, Southwark and Lambeth Jobcentre Plus district in 2006-07, split by ward; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  how much Deprived Areas Fund spend allocated by his Department to Wandsworth, Southwark and Lambeth district in 2006-07 has been spent in the year to date, broken down by ward; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Murphy: holding answer 2 February 2007
	The information on Deprived Areas Fund allocation for 2006-07 and 2007-08 in Wandsworth, Southwark and Lambeth district is in the following table.
	
		
			  Deprived areas fund allocation in Wandsworth, Southwark and Lambeth district 
			  £ 
			  Ward code  Ward  2006-07  2007-08 
			 OOAYFZ Bishop's 23,089 70,918 
			 OOAYGA Brixton Hill 24,639 75,678 
			 OOAYGC Clapham Town 23,811 73,134 
			 OOAYGD Coldharbour 28,808 88,484 
			 OOAYGE Ferndale 25,581 78,572 
			 OOAYGF Gipsy Hill 26,062 80,050 
			 OOAYGG Herne Hill 23,417 71,923 
			 OOAYGH Knight's Hill 25,762 79,126 
			 OOAYGJ Larkhall 28,307 86,944 
			 OOAYGK Oval 23,797 73,093 
			 OOAYGL Prince's 23,363 71,759 
			 OOAYGM St. Leonard's 21,833 67,060 
			 OOAYGN Stockwell 27,198 83,538 
			 OOAYGP Streatham Hill 24,091 73,996 
			 OOAYGR Streatham Wells 23,550 72,334 
			 OOAYGS Thornton 23,002 70,651 
			 OOAYGU Tulse Hill 26,764 82,204 
			 OOAYGW Vassall 25,942 79,680 
			 OOBEGC Brunswick Park 24,793 76,151 
			 OOBEGD Camberwell Green 26,410 81,117 
			 OOBEGE Cathedrals 36,251 111,344 
			 OOBEGF Chaucer 34,688 106,542 
			 OOBEGJ East Walworth 28,280 86,862 
			 OOBEGK Faraday 31,113 95,563 
			 OOBEGL Grange 26,797 82,307 
			 OOBEGM Livesey 28,421 87,294 
			 OOBEGN Newington 28,340 87,047 
			 OOBEGP Nunhead 22,114 67,921 
			 OOBEGQ Peckham 24,459 75,124 
			 OOBEGR Peckham Rye 20,256 62,217 
			 OOBEGU South Bermondsey 24,312 74,673 
			 OOBEGW South Camberwell 25,207 77,423 
			 OOBEGY The Lane 25,848 79,393 
			 OOBJGG Latchmere 24,759 76,048 
			 OOBJGK Queenstown 24,038 73,832 
			  Total 905,103 2,780,000 
		
	
	To date, no spend through the Deprived Areas Fund has been recorded for the Wandsworth, Southwark and Lambeth district in 2006-07.

External Consultants

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department has spent on external consultants in each year since 1996-97, broken down by project; what the purpose of each such project was; and if he will make a statement.

Anne McGuire: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The DWP was formed in June 2001 and I have provided the total spent on external consultants since formation.
	The total cost of employing consultants in each year for the remaining years is in the following table.
	
		
			  £ million 
			   Description  Management consultancy  IT consultancy 
			 2001-02 — 23.79 70.67 
			 2002-03 — 47.57 93.47 
			 2003-04 — 223.35 83.37 
			 2004-05 — 98.64 69.73 
			 2005-06 — 77.59 52.70

Household Incomes

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of how many families living in  (a) England,  (b) Wales and  (c) Scotland receive more than half of their gross income in cash benefits and tax credits.

Jim Murphy: The information is in the following table.
	
		
			  Family type  Country  All 
			  Pensioner couple England 1.4 
			  Wales 0.1 
			  Scotland 0.1 
			  Northern Ireland ? 
			  UK 1.7 
			
			  Couple with children England 0.5 
			  Wales * 
			  Scotland * 
			  Northern Ireland * 
			  UK 0.6 
			  Couple without children England 0.4 
			  Wales * 
			  Scotland * 
			  Northern Ireland * 
			  UK 0.5 
			
			  Lone parent England 0.9 
			  Wales * 
			  Scotland 0.1 
			  Northern Ireland ? 
			  UK 1.1 
			  Notes: 1. Income from benefits or tax credits: Income from any Social Security Benefit; i.e. income-related benefit and non-income related benefit and for this analysis also includes tax credits. See notes below for further definition of income- and non-income related benefits 2. The only way we can measure family income is by using the Benefit Unit definition of family. This is equivalent to a family unit but is not the same as a household. A household can contain one or more benefit units. 3. The estimates are based on sample counts that have been adjusted for non-response using multi-purpose grossing factors that control for tenure type, Council Tax Band and a number of demographic variables. Estimates are subject to sampling error and remaining response bias. 4. Benefit receipt is based on self-assessment and therefore may be subject to mis-reporting. 5. Percentage is rounded to the nearest percent 6. Income related benefits: Social Security benefits included in this category are: Back to Work Bonus Extended Payment of Council Tax Benefit Extended Payment of Housing Benefit Income Support Pension Credit Housing Benefit Council Tax Benefit Rates Rebate Disability Working Allowance Social Fund Grant for Funeral Expenses Social Fund Grant for Maternity Expenses Jobseeker's Allowance (Income based) Community Care Grants Return to Work Credit Child Maintenance Bonus 7. Non-income related benefits/Non-income related state support: Social Security benefits included in this category are: Statutory Sick Pay Statutory Maternity Pay Statutory Paternity Pay Statutory Adoption Pay Disability Living Allowance Child Benefit Retirement Pension Widowed Mother's Allowance/Widowed Parents Allowance Widow's Payment/Bereavement Payment Widow's Pension/Bereavement Allowance War Disablement Pension War Widow's Pension Severe Disablement Allowance Attendance Allowance 8. The estimates are based on sample counts that have been adjusted for non-response using multi-purpose grossing factors which align the FRS to Government Office Region populations by age and sex. Estimates are subject to sampling error and remaining response bias. Sample sizes are provided to help readers judge the robustness of the information. 9. Data are not provided for certain cells in the table because the sample sizes are too small to support reliable estimates of the statistics in question. (Represented with an *) 10. Evidence suggests that some items of income may be under reported in the survey, particularly self-employment and investment income; and estimates of average income are vulnerable to variations in the number of very high income households responding in each region; these figures should therefore be treated with caution. 11. Benefit receipt is based on self-assessment and therefore may be subject to misreporting.  Source: Family Resources Survey (UK), 2004-05 Figures have been rounded to nearest 100 thousand.

Overseas Aid: Education

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what total funding for education his Department allocated in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Gareth Thomas: DFID bilateral expenditure on education in each of the last five years is shown at Table 1.
	
		
			  Table 1: DFID Bilateral expenditure on education 
			  £000 
			   Expenditure 
			 2001-02 134,179 
			 2002-03 165,133 
			 2003-04 221,887 
			 2004-05 269,761 
			 2005-06 249,799 
		
	
	DFID also contributes to the funding of a range of multilateral organisations much of which will go towards education. The total amount of funding through the major relevant multilateral organisations is published in Statistics on International Development, a copy of which is available in the Library. Summary information is provided in Table 2.
	
		
			  Table 2: Total DFID expenditure on the funding of selected multilateral organisations 
			  £ million 
			   2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 Multilateral organisation  
			 European Community 730 871 1,031 951 917 
			 International Development Association 214 221 381 204 271 
			 UNICEF 18 20 18 24 32 
			 UNESCO 3 3 3 3 3 
			 African Development Fund 29 33 32 35 34 
			 Asian Development Fund 27 26 24 22 19

Aviation: Heathrow Airport

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of flights from Heathrow Airport which were to UK destinations in the last three years for which figures are available.

Gillian Merron: The estimated number and proportion of flights from Heathrow airport to UK destinations in the last three years were as follows:
	
		
			   Total number of flights from Heathrow (Thousand)  Number of flights to UK destinations (Thousand)  Percentage of flights from Heathrow to UK destinations 
			 2003 229 30 13 
			 2004 235 31 13 
			 2005 236 32 13 
			  Source: Civil Aviation Authority

Safety Belts

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what funding his Department allocated in each of the last five years to means of raising awareness of the dangers of travelling by car without using a seatbelt.

Stephen Ladyman: The dangers of travelling by car without using a seat belt form part of the Government's THINK! road safety campaign. The Government are investing around £17 million in the THINK! campaign in this fiscal year (FY2006-07).
	The total campaign costs for the THINK! seat belts campaign since the 2002-03 fiscal year are as follows:
	
		
			  THINK! seat belts campaign costs 
			  Fiscal year  £ 
			 2002-03 1.49 million 
			 2003-04 2.03 million 
			 2004-05 1.50 million 
			 2005-06 1.57 million 
			 2006-07 (1)225,000 
			 (1) Expected outturn. 
		
	
	The expenditure for the THINK! seat belts campaign for this fiscal year (FY2006-07) was reduced so that more resource could be devoted to raising awareness to the changes in the law on mobile phones and child car seats.

Departments: Redundancy

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much was spent on  (a) involuntary and  (b) voluntary staff exit schemes in (i) his Department and (ii) each agency of the Department in each year since 1997-98; how much is planned to be spent for 2007-08; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department has spent the following on voluntary and involuntary exit schemes:
	
		
			  £ million 
			   Voluntary  Involuntary 
			 2004-05 5.23 0.05 
			 2005-06 11.98 0.16 
			 2006-07 (1)8.43 1.20 
			 (1)Estimated 
		
	
	The information for earlier years could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	The Department will always try to deal with staff surpluses by means other than redundancy. If redundancies become unavoidable the Department will endeavour to reduce staff by voluntary rather than involuntary means wherever possible. The Department is currently restructuring and is administering a voluntary exit scheme to deal with emerging surpluses which will run into 2007-08. The full extent of voluntary and involuntary exit costs is not yet available.
	Letters from the Department's agencies—the Companies House, Insolvency Service, National Weights and Measures Laboratory, and the Patent Office—are provided separately.
	 Letter from Jeff Llewellyn, dated 8 March 2007:
	The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply on behalf of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) to your question regarding "how much was spent on (a) involuntary and (b) voluntary staff exit schemes in (i) his Department and (ii) each agency of the Department in each year since 1997-98; how much is planned to be spent for 2007-08; and if he will make a statement. 123930".
	The National Weights & Measures Laboratory has not conducted any such schemes in any year since 1997-1998, and has no plans to introduce any during the period 2007-2008.
	 Letter from Desmond Flynn, dated 8 March 2007:
	The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply to you directly on behalf of the Insolvency Service in respect of your question (1343/2006), asking how much was spent on (a) involuntary and (b) voluntary staff exit schemes in (i) his Department and (ii) each agency of the Department in each year since 1997-98, and how much is planned to be spent for 2007-08.
	No members of Insolvency Service staff have been included in such exit schemes during the relevant period. The Insolvency Service currently has no plans to offer exit schemes to its staff during 2007-08.
	 Letter from Ron Marchant, dated 8 March 2007:
	Please see the following, from the Patent Office, in response to your recent parliamentary questions.
	Written PQ 2006/1343: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, how much was spent on (a) involuntary and (b) voluntary staff exit schemes in (i) his Department and (ii) each agency of the Department in each year since 1997-98; how much is planned to be spent for 2007-08; and if he will make a statement. 123930
	There were no involuntary staff exist schemes in the Patent Office in this period. The full cost of voluntary early retirement and severance schemes is charged to the office in the year the decision is made. The full figures charged to our accounts are:
	
		
			   £000 
			 1997-98 155 
			 1998-99 562 
			 1999-2000 197 
			 2000-01 289 
			 2001-02 34 
			 2002-03 237 
			 2003-04 16 
			 2004-05 13 
			 2005-06 2,444 
		
	
	 Letter from Tim Moss, dated 8 March 2007:
	I am responding to your recently tabled Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on behalf of Companies House, which is an Executive Agency of the DTI.
	Since 1997, Companies House has run staff exit schemes as follows:
	
		
			   Cost (£)  Description 
			 1999 795,000 Compulsory early retirement/early severance 
			 2003 250,000 Compulsory early retirement/early severance 
			 2006 955,447 Voluntary early retirement—flexible 
			 2007-08 (1)— — 
			 (1 )Budged cost of £2.2 million for flexible voluntary early retirement/severance

Departments: Smith Institute

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much money from the public purse  (a) his Department and  (b) its agencies have given to (i) the Smith Institute and (ii) its subsidiary SI Events Ltd. in each year since 1997; and for what purpose each payment was made.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Data are not held centrally at this level of detail for the Department's agencies. Data before 1999 are kept on microfiche and cannot be retrieved without disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  FY  Amount to Smith Institute  Amount to SI Events Ltd.  Purpose 
			 1999-2000 8,000 — Contribution to project study 
			 2000-01 60 — Publications 
			 2001-02 0 — — 
			 2002-03 6,800 — Economic Summit 
			 2003-04 3,200 — Economic Summit 
			 2004-05 0 — — 
			 2005-06 (1)10,438 (2)7,050 (1,2)— 
			 2006-07 50 — Membership fee 
			 (1) Debate on procmt policy and round table event (2) Debate on procmt policy

Insolvency: East Sussex

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people were declared insolvent in  (a) Eastbourne and  (b) East Sussex in each of the last five years.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Regional insolvency statistics are only available on the basis of the locations of official receivers offices, each of which cover a group of county courts where the cases are heard and the courts having jurisdiction over these. It is not possible to provide bankruptcy statistics by constituency, county or Government office region. The following table provides the bankruptcy order statistics considered to be closest to those of interest, but they should not be treated as reliable estimates for the administrative geographies requested.
	
		
			   Eastbourne county court  Brighton OR's office( 1)  South East region (OR based) 
			 2002 84 797 3,052 
			 2003 148 958 4,618 
			 2004 190 1,086 5,616 
			 2005 263 1,653 7,328 
			 2006 307 1,808 9,536 
			 (1) Brighton OR's office covers the following county courts: Bognor Regis, Brighton, Chichester, Eastbourne, Hastings, Haywards Heath, Horsham, Lewes and Worthing.

Mining: Pensions

Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much has been received by the Government from the Mineworkers Pension Scheme and the Bristol Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme since 1994; and what estimate was made by the National Audit Office of what this sum would be.

Malcolm Wicks: As part of the guarantee arrangements for these schemes the Government receives 50 per cent. of any surplus declared in the triennial actuarial valuations undertaken by the Government Actuary. The Government's share of each surplus, if any, is paid out over 10 years. The other 50 per cent. is used to enhance members' benefits. Between October 1994 and December 2006 the Government received £1,785 million in respect of such payments from the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme (MPS) and £1,470 million from the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme (BCSSS). A further receipt of £242 million is expected from the BCSSS this month. In addition, the Government have used just over £68 million from the MPS Investment Reserve to fond lump-sum payments to members of the MPS on low pensions, and received £154 million from the BCSSS Investment Reserve, of which over £90 million has been used to fond pension liabilities inherited from British Coal. A further payment of 10 million from the BCSSS Investment Reserve is expected this month.
	All payments to the Government as scheme Guarantor are reported in each scheme's published Annual Report and Accounts. Copies of the latest reports are available on each scheme's website
	www.mps-pension.org.uk
	and
	www.bcsss-pension.org.uk
	I understand that a report for the National Audit Office by Binder Hamlyn in 1995 suggested total gross payments to the Treasury from both schemes over 25 years of £8 billion.

Mining: Pensions

Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether it is still the intention that the investment reserve within the miners' pension schemes will be repaid to the Government in 2019; and what assessment has been made of the impact on the investment strategy of the funds and the future protection of scheme members.

Malcolm Wicks: The Investment Reserves are British Coal's share of pre-privatisation surpluses that the Government agreed to leave in the schemes' funds as part of the guarantee arrangements. Under the schemes' provisions, and subject to the need to make good any deficits in the funds, they are due to be paid to the Government as guarantor over a period of 25 years from the Guarantee Date of 31 October 1994, or such longer period as the Government may from time to time determine. The Government have not extended this period. I understand that the trustees of each scheme will be looking at potential effect of this on their investment strategies later this year as part of their regular review process.
	The Government have guaranteed that the pensions to which scheme members were entitled at privatisation, increased each year in line with the retail prices index, will always be paid and that their total pension entitlement, including bonuses funded from the members' share of surpluses, will never fall in cash terms. This guarantee applies, and will be honoured by the Government, regardless of the value of the investment reserves or the solvency of the schemes at any time.

Natural Gas: Wales

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions he has had on the Felindre to Tirley pipeline.

Malcolm Wicks: Since the Department of Trade and Industry consented this pipeline on 7 February, officials have continued to have discussions about related issues with a range of stakeholders, including the Environment Agency, the Countryside Commission for Wales, the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority and Natural England, as well as National Grid. The discussions have covered various issues, including method working statements and the effective discharge of the consent conditions.

Trident

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  if he will update the committed and contingent figures in table 7 of Annexe B to Supporting Essay 6 of the Strategic Defence Review 1998;
	(2)  what the estimated annual operating cost is of conventional forces  (a) committed to the protection of Trident and  (b) with a contingent role in the protection of Trident, calculated on the same basis as the figures provided in the answer to the hon. Member for Crawley of 2 November 1998,  Official Report, columns 349-50W, on Trident.

Des Browne: In addition to the four Vanguard-class submarines, all of which are dedicated to Military Task 1.2—Nuclear Deterrence—the current planned force elements assigned to support nuclear deterrence are shown in the following table. The changes in both committed and contingent forces since publication of Supporting Essay 6 of the Strategic Defence Review reflect the changing nature of the threat to the deterrent, and of our response to that threat as described in paragraphs 2.7 and 2.8 of the 2004 White Paper, 'Delivering Security in a Changing World—Future Capabilities' (CM6269).
	
		
			  Force element  Committed(  l)  Contingent( 2) 
			 Attack submarines 0 2 
			 Destroyers and frigates 0 1 
			 Minewarfare vessels 1 3 
			 Royal fleet auxiliary vessels 0 1 
			 Survey vessels 1 0 
			 Merlin ASW helicopters 0 5 
			 Maritime and reconnaissance aircraft 0 8 
			 (1) Force elements committed to the military task as their primary role (2) Force elements held contingent are assigned to a number of tasks and are not planned routinely to deploy in support of the deterrent. 
		
	
	We do not routinely calculate the operating cost of specific committed or contingent force elements in support of the deterrent, and such estimates are necessarily illustrative, given the differing cost of varied operating patterns. A broad order estimate, however, of the annual operating costs of committed conventional force elements would be around £25-30 million.
	A similar estimate for contingent conventional force elements would be around £250-300 million, although this is the estimated cost of generating these force elements for a range of tasks and it is not the cost of support to the deterrent.
	These estimated costs are not directly comparable to those given in 1998, as the calculation has been conducted on a different basis using a more recent methodology.

Somalia: Official Visits

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions the Minister for Africa had with the President of the Transitional Federal government of Somalia on the security situation in Somalia at their recent meeting; whether they agree on who is responsible for the recent violence in Somalia; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: The President of the Transitional Federal Republic of Somalia and my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Lord Triesman of Tottenham, spoke about the security situation in Somalia at their recent meeting. They agreed that the arrival of the African Union Mission in Somalia would help to improve security in Somalia. Despite efforts by the Transitional Federal government of Somalia, some rogue elements continue to mount limited attacks. We condemn those responsible for the recent attacks in Mogadishu and call on all parties to reject violence and commit to peaceful dialogue.

Fire Safety: Costs

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the  (a) one-off and  (b) recurring costs of implementing the Fire Precautions (Workplace) (Amendment) Regulations 1999 to (i) businesses and (ii) the regulators.

Angela Smith: The Government's estimate are given in the regulatory impact assessment that accompanied the Fire Precautions (Workplace) (Amendment) Regulations 1999 when they were laid before the House. I have placed copies of that assessment in the Library.

Local Government Finance

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average value was of grants awarded to  (a) unitary and  (b) county councils in England in addition to their local government financial settlement in each of the last five years.

Phil Woolas: The information requested is tabled as follows:
	
		
			  Average value of specific grants inside aggregate external finance 
			  £ million 
			   Unitary authorities  County councils 
			 2001-02 18 59 
			 2002-03 25 80 
			 2003-04 37 97 
			 2004-05 39 109 
			 2005-06 42 114 
			  Source: Communities and Local Government Revenue Outturn returns. 
		
	
	The figures exclude grants outside aggregate external finance (i.e. where funding is not for an authority's core services, but is passed to a third party; for example, as in the case of mandatory student awards), capital grants, funding for local authorities' housing management responsibilities and those grant programmes (such as European funding) where authorities are simply one of the recipients of funding paid towards an area.

Anti-discrimination Forms

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what forms were introduced to counter discrimination by law enforcement agents at work since 1997; what the length of each form is; and how many of each type were filled out over 2005-06.

Tony McNulty: In respect of the police, from 1 April 2005 Code of Practice A, issued under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984, on the exercise by police officers of statutory powers of stop and search provides that when an officer requires a person in a public place to account for themselves, a record of the encounter must be completed at the time and a copy given to the person who has been questioned.
	The information required to be completed on the form is set out in paragraph 4.3 of Code of Practice A and includes a requirement to record the ethnicity of the person. The format of the form is a matter for each chief officer of police. Statistics on the use of the power will be published as part of the annual reporting requirements on the exercise of certain police powers under PACE, due for publication in May 2007.
	While the PACE provisions apply equally to officers of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) the organisation was not formed until 1 April 2006 and therefore was not operational during the period in which statistical information is being sought.

Antisocial Behaviour Orders: Mentally Ill

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what steps he plans to take to monitor the application of the updated guidance from his Department on antisocial behaviour orders in relation to perpetrators of antisocial behaviour suspected of suffering from mental health problems;
	(2)  how many recent notifications he has received of anti-social behaviour orders imposed on children and young people with  (a) mental health problems and  (b) other special needs;
	(3)  how many assessments have taken place since August 2006 of perpetrators of antisocial behaviour who are suffering from mental health conditions.

Tony McNulty: holding answer 1 March 2007
	The decision to grant an antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) rests with the courts, and the agencies that apply for such orders are themselves public bodies that are subject to the disability equality duty. The Home Office's "guide to antisocial behaviour orders" reminds agencies of their duties and provides a context for their observation, but it is not intended to serve as a substitute for existing monitoring arrangements. The Home Office therefore does not collect data on the health or other needs status of people issued ASBOs by the courts.

Biometrics: Equipment

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the costs of rolling out biometric readers for identity cards across the public services.

John Reid: Until further detailed work with both public and private sector organisations during the preparation and initial rollout of the Identity Card Scheme are complete, it is not possible to provide the precise mix of services each organisation may require and thus, it is not possible to provide a final estimate of the number and total cost of biometric readers across the public services at this stage.

Burglary

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 1 March 2007,  Official Report, columns 1501-2W, on burglaries, what initiatives are being taken  (a) to encourage greater reporting of distraction burglaries and  (b) to increase the number of convictions for these crimes.

Vernon Coaker: All Home Office publicity materials on bogus callers emphasise the importance of reporting suspicious callers and instances of distraction burglary.
	At the local level partners including health and care professionals and voluntary sector bodies encourage the reporting of bogus caller incidents in one to one sessions in the home. Other initiatives used to promote positive doorstep behaviour and encourage reporting include theatre presentations, talks at luncheon clubs and events such as special pensioner screenings at cinemas, reporting facilities located in high street drop-in centres, and 'nominated neighbour' schemes.
	To enhance the police response to distraction burglary, a national distraction burglary database and intelligence network has been established to facilitate the sharing of intelligence and support joint operations between forces and with other enforcement bodies including Trading Standards. Best practice including increased use of forensics and other technologies is also encouraged through the network.

Community Policing: Rotherham

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of Safer Neighbourhood teams in Rotherham; and if he will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: The Home Office monitors and evaluates neighbourhood policing nationally through a strategic research programme rather than measuring the performance of individual teams, such as those based in Rotherham. Implementation is measured by repeat surveys of all forces and basic command units (BCUs), and results are being compared with outcomes in the Police Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF). Outcomes which should be affected include crime and antisocial behaviour, feelings of safety and security, and satisfaction with and confidence in the police. An additional study is testing the impact of neighbourhood policing at a BCU level, following the successful evaluation of the ward level National Reassurance Policing Programme.
	Surveys are being carried out in four Pathfinder BCUs each matched to a comparison site, to measure change in public perceptions and experiences. Results will be published in due course.
	The Home Office also continues to assess police performance through the Policing Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF). The statutory performance indicators in PPAF on public confidence in the police (2a) and perception of antisocial behaviour (10b) measure the impact of neighbourhood policing. Finally, HMIC's baseline assessments also provide a qualitative measure of neighbourhood policing delivery.

Community Support Officers: Cleveland

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police community support officers within Cleveland police are funded by  (a) his Department's resources,  (b) neighbourhood renewal fund resources,  (c) new deal for communities resources and  (d) local authority resources, broken down by local authority area.

Tony McNulty: This information is not collected centrally.
	The Home Office is providing £818,000 from the neighbourhood policing fund (NPF) and £812,000 in other PCSO funding to Cleveland in 2006-07. This funding will assist the force in reaching its target of 122 PCSOs by April 2007. All forces are encouraged to seek funding from a variety of sources including their local community safety partners to meet the costs of police community support officers (PCSOs). Police community support officers play a key role within neighbourhood policing teams in improving community safety. Community safety and the reduction of crime and disorder in all of our communities can only be achieved through effective local partnerships which include the police service and a range of others including the local authority, housing providers, and representatives of the voluntary and community sectors.

Crime: Bedfordshire

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what targets were put in place on the rate of convictions to criminal offences in Bedfordshire in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: No targets have been set for the rate of convictions to criminal offences.
	Bedfordshire has a target to bring 13,045 offences to justice in 2006-07, and a target to bring 13,579 offences to justice in 2007-08.
	Each Local Criminal Justice Board (LCJB) has a target to increase the number of offences brought to justice (OBTJ). An offence is said to have been brought to justice when a recorded crime results in an offender being convicted, cautioned, issued with a penalty notice for disorder or a formal warning for possession of cannabis, or having an offence taken into consideration.
	LCJB targets for numbers of OBTJ have been set each year since 2001. The performance by Bedfordshire is given in the following table.
	
		
			  The number of offences brought to justice (OBTJ) in Bedfordshire, 2001-02 to September 2006( 1,2,3) 
			   Number of OBTJ 
			   Achieved  Target 
			 2001-02 11,100 (1)11,140 
			 2002-03 11,900 11,140 
			 2003-04 10,800 11,697 
			 2004-05 12,400 12,271 
			 2005-06 13,600 13,045 
			 2006(4) 13,631 (2)13,045 
			 (1) Baseline (excluding 825/90 offences). (2) To end 2006-07. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (4) Year to September.  Source: RDS Office for Criminal Justice Reform

Crime: Lancashire

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drink-driving offences were committed within Lancashire in each of the last 10 years.

Vernon Coaker: Available information on the number of convictions at all courts and those dealt with by written warning, taken from the annual Home Office publication "Offences relating to motor vehicles, England and Wales Supplementary tables", for the Lancashire police force area, from 1995 to 2004 (latest available) are given in the table.
	2005 data will be available later this year.
	
		
			  The number of driving etc. after consuming alcohol or taking drugs( 1)  offences found guilty at all courts or dealt with by written warning within the Lancashire police force area, 1995-2004 
			 Number of offences 
			   Total findings of guilt at all courts  Written Warnings  Total 
			 1995 2,828 8 2,836 
			 1996 3,211 4 3,215 
			 1997 3,389 5 3,394 
			 1998 2,949 (2)— 2,949 
			 1999 3,010 (2)— 3,010 
			 2000 2,584 (2)— 2,584 
			 2001 2,304 (2)— 2,304 
			 2002 2,599 (2)— 2,599 
			 2003 2,652 1 2,653 
			 2004 2,706 1 2,707 
			 (1) Offences under the Road Traffic Act 1988.  (2 )Equals nil   Notes:  1. It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete. Work is underway to ensure that the magistrates' courts case management system currently being implemented by the Department for Constitutional Affairs reports all motoring offences to the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. This will enable more complete figures to be disseminated.  2. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when these data are used.

Entry Clearances: Domestic Service

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many domestic worker visas were issued by his Department in each year since 1987, broken down by country of origin.

Kim Howells: I have been asked to reply.
	As the information requested by my right hon. Friend is lengthy I have arranged for a copy to be sent to my right hon. Friend and a copy will also be placed in the Library of the House.
	Please note the Foreign and Commonwealth Office electronic resources only go as far back as 1998 for domestic worker visas and that the database did not provide reliable data until 2004. Data prior to this date cannot be guaranteed to be 100 per cent. accurate.

Entry Clearances: Indian Subcontinent

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for entry clearance for the purpose of marriage were made by women under the age of 21 years in calendar year 2006 from  (a) India,  (b) Pakistan and  (c) Bangladesh.

Kim Howells: I have been asked to reply.
	I refer the hon. Member to the following table.
	Please note the Foreign and Commonwealth Office keeps central statistics for applicants aged under and over 18, rather than under and over the age of 21.
	
		
			  UK visa applications received by women coming to the UK on the basis of getting married (calendar year (CY) 2006) 
			   Fiancée 
			   India  Pakistan  Bangladesh 
			 Under 18 7 1 0 
			 Over 18 255 181 27 
		
	
	
		
			  UK visa applications received by women coming to the UK on the basis of joining their husband (CY 2006) 
			   Wife 
			   India  Pakistan  Bangladesh 
			 Under 18 9 78 4 
			 Over 18 2,863 4,058 2,102

Georgi Markov

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what information  (a) his Department and  (b) the police have concerning the whereabouts of Francesco Gullino, the alleged assassin of Georgi Markov in London in 1978;
	(2)  what steps he is taking to resolve the case of the assassination of Georgi Markov before the statute of limitations comes into effect in 2008;
	(3)  what the outcome was of the interrogation of Francesco Gullino in Copenhagen by British detectives in February 1993;
	(4)  whether  (a) his Department and  (b) the police have had access to copies of the documents in the archive of the Intelligence Directorate of the former state security service compiled by the Bulgarian police investigation into the murder of Georgi Markov.

Tony McNulty: holding answers 19 December 2006
	The investigation into the death of Georgi Markov is a matter for the Commissioner of metropolitan police.

Informants: Prisons

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 29 January 2007,  Official Report, column 138W, on informants: prisons, whether awareness sessions qualify managers to become involved with prison informants; at what level this engagement takes place; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The legislation and codes of practice do not set minimum standards for training. The awareness sessions for informant controllers and authorising officers will be supplemented by role specific training available from 12 March 2007.

Islam: Broadcasting Programmes

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment his Department has made of the content of the Channel Four Dispatches programme on extremism in some mosques, broadcast on 15 January 2007; and what decision has been made about whether criminal offences have been committed by any of the individuals featured.

Tony McNulty: holding answer 8 February 2007
	Responsibility for what is broadcast on television rests with the broadcaster, in this case Channel 4, and the independent regulator for broadcasting standards and content, Ofcom. It is therefore not for the Government to intervene in the content of individual broadcasts.
	Moreover, the Government do not have a role to play in determining whether individual incidents constitute an criminal offence. That is an operational matter for the police and for the Crown Prosecution Service.

Kennett Prison: Manpower

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from the Prison Officers Association on the announcement to open the new prison HMP Kennett in Merseyside.

John Reid: No representations have been received from the Prison Officers Association following the announcement about HM Prison Kennet.

Ministerial Duties

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the roles and responsibilities of the Minister of State for Policing, Security and Community Safety are; and what areas he is responsible for in the answering of written parliamentary questions.

Tony McNulty: holding answer 26 February 2007
	I have responsibility for the Policing, Security and Community Safety. This includes responsibility for police reform (including work force reform, restructuring and National Policing Improvement Agency); counter-terrorism; respect and antisocial behaviour.
	Ministers at the Home Office are responsible for answering parliamentary questions on areas covering their own profiles. As Minister of State for the Policing, Security and Community Safety I have additional responsibility for improving the Department's performance, processes and systems in answering parliamentary questions.
	Responsibilities of Ministers at the Home Office can also be accessed at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/organisation/ministers/

Offensive Weapons

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the knife amnesty held in 2006.

Tony McNulty: The knife amnesty was held from 24 May to the end of June 2006. Over that period, almost 90,000 items were handed in to police in England and Wales. This constitutes a substantial quantity of potentially lethal items taken off the streets. However, the amnesty was just one facet of our knife crime strategy, which focuses on tough enforcement through targeted operations such as Operation Shield run by the British Transport Police, education programmes, including the Be Safe programme which teaches young people of the dangers and consequences of carrying knives, and support for wider prevention work. We also support community-based initiatives and projects through the Connected Fund, which was established in May 2004 and has supported 300 groups so far. A further round of funding totalling £500,000 was announced on one March 2006. The latest round of fund was launched on 1 March and full details can be found at:
	www.connected.gov.uk.
	Further work is currently ongoing, for example the development of a knife enabled crime action plan in conjunction with ACPO, and enhancements to data collection to enable the identification of certain knife-related offences.

Police: Age

Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average age of police recruits was in each of the last five years.

Tony McNulty: The information on all those recruited in the last five years is not held centrally.
	
		
			   Average age (years) 
			 2006-07(1) 27.5 
			 2005-06 26.1 
			 2004-05 26.3 
			 2003-04 26.8 
			 2002-03 27.7 
			 (1) Covers the period 1 November 2006 to 31 January 2007 
		
	
	The table gives the average age of those who are successful at the assessment centre. Since July 2005 all candidates to joint the police service have gone through the assessment centre, but the averages for 2002-05 are based on the smaller numbers applying to the forces which first adopted the assessment centre. Since there are further checks to be undertaken (such as vetting, fitness and medical checks), not all the successful candidates are eventually appointed, and some may accept other job offers in the meantime. The table therefore gives only an approximation of the average age of recruits.

Police: Cumbria

David Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers there were in Cumbria Constabulary in each year since 1997; and what the projected figures are for 2007 and 2008.

Tony McNulty: The available data for 1997 to 2006 are given in the following table.
	With regard to future strength it is a matter for the chief constable, in consultation with the police authority, to determine the number of police officers and police support staff employed by the force.
	
		
			  Police officer strength (FTE)( 1)  in Cumbria, as at 31 March 1997 to 31 March 2006( 2) 
			   Strength 
			 31 March 1997 1,144 
			 31 March 1998 1,164 
			 31 March 1999 1,126 
			 31 March 2000 1,084 
			 31 March 2001 1,048 
			 31 March 2002 1,100 
			 31 March 2003 1,140 
			 31 March 2004 1,222 
			 31 March 2005 1,232 
			 31 March 2006 1,230 
			 30 September 2006 1,247 
			 (1) Full-time Equivalent. All officers less staff on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave (comparable with previously published figures). (2) This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding, there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of the constituent items..

Police: Dogs

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many dog handlers there were in each police force in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: The available data are given in the following table.
	
		
			  Police officers whose primary function( 1)  is dogs by police force area, as at 31 March 2003 to 31 March 2006( 2)  (FTE)( 3) 
			   31 March 2003  31 March 2004( 4)  31 March 2005  31 March 2006 
			 Avon and Somerset 47 45 45 45 
			 Bedfordshire 19 18 17 18 
			 Cambridgeshire 19 18 18 19 
			 Cheshire 24 23 22 21 
			 Cleveland 18 19 19 17 
			 Cumbria 20 21 19 20 
			 Derbyshire 24 24 24 24 
			 Devon and Cornwall 48 47 48 49 
			 Dorset 22 20 21 22 
			 Durham 26 27 24 25 
			 Essex 46 45 48 48 
			 Gloucestershire 16 14 17 17 
			 Greater Manchester 116 118 90 96 
			 Hampshire 28 35 36 36 
			 Hertfordshire 27 26 26 29 
			 Humberside 28 28 27 27 
			 Kent 48 — 45 47 
			 Lancashire 41 35 36 30 
			 Leicestershire 4 25 24 22 
			 Lincolnshire 22 22 22 19 
			 London, City of 18 17 18 18 
			 Merseyside 31 32 35 45 
			 Metropolitan Police 205 237 241 251 
			 Norfolk 19 22 20 20 
			 Northamptonshire 14 13 13 13 
			 Northumbria 54 60 61 60 
			 North Yorkshire 23 23 21 21 
			 Nottinghamshire 30 32 33 33 
			 South Yorkshire 52 50 44 48 
			 Staffordshire 27 28 27 25 
			 Suffolk 14 14 13 13 
			 Surrey 34 36 33 34 
			 Sussex 49 48 51 47 
			 Thames Valley 43 40 39 40 
			 Warwickshire 15 15 16 16 
			 West Mercia 35 37 38 37 
			 West Midlands 69 69 67 69 
			 West Yorkshire 62 68 61 58 
			 Wiltshire 15 15 17 18 
			 Dyfed-Powys 19 19 20 19 
			 Gwent 16 15 15 16 
			 North Wales 12 12 15 11 
			 South Wales 43 40 43 39 
			 (1) Staff with multiple responsibilities (or designations) are recorded under their primary role or function. The deployment of police officers is an operational matter for individual chief constables. (2) Data not available prior to 2002-03. (3) Full-time equivalent. This figure includes those officers on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. (4) Excludes Kent. Data not available.

Police: Football

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was to the Metropolitan Police of policing football matches in each of the last five years; and how much was received by charging football clubs in each year.

Tony McNulty: In accordance with the special police service arrangements under Section 25 of the Police Act 1996, the Metropolitan Police Authority can seek reimbursement of policing costs incurred through the deployment of officers on the private property of a football club. The Metropolitan Police Service has provided the following figures in respect of the cost of providing special police services at football matches for the last five football seasons. These costs have been recovered from the football clubs. Other policing in the vicinity of football grounds, or associated with football matches is undertaken as part of the ordinary duty of the police to keep law and order.
	
		
			  Football season  Special police services (£) 
			 2001-02 1,970,624 
			 2002-03 1,901,029 
			 2003-04 1,873,777 
			 2004-05 2,521,402 
			 2005-06 2,079,310 
			 Total 10,346,142 
			  Source: Metropolitan Police Service

Police: Lancashire

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers were employed in Lancashire in each of the last 10 years.

Tony McNulty: The available data are given in the table.
	
		
			  Police officer strength (FTE)( 1)  in Lancashire as at 31 March 1996 to 30 September 2006( 2) 
			   Number 
			 31 March 1996 3,171 
			 31 March 1997 3,248 
			 31 March 1998 3,257 
			 31 March 1999 3,245 
			 31 March 2000 3,179 
			 31 March 2001 3,255 
			 31 March 2002 3,304 
			 31 March 2003 3,339 
			 31 March 2004 3,550 
			 31 March 2005 3,551 
			 31 March 2006 3,583 
			 30 September 2006 3,542 
			 (1) Full-time equivalent. All officers less staff on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave (comparable with previously published figures). (2) This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding, there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of the constituent items.

Prison Service: Manpower

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what measures his Department is taking to increase  (a) the number of prison officers in the prison service and  (b) the retention rate of these prison officers;
	(2)  if he will publish his projections of numbers of prison officers in each of HM Prison Service prison up until 2012.

John Reid: Current staffing projections in the public sector Prison Service cover the period up to April 2009. These are contained in the following table.
	A central strategy is being developed as part of a programme of work to increase capacity. This will include recruitment of additional officers. The resourcing strategy will also include complementary measures such as appropriate use of detached duty and contracted supplementary hours.
	The retention rate for prison officers nationally compares favourably with other organisations. In areas where recruitment and retention are more difficult, higher starting salaries and local pay allowances may operate.
	
		
			  Projected Full time equivalent prison officers senior officers and principal officers( 1) 
			   As of 1 April each year 
			  Establishment  2007  2008  2009 
			 Acklington 220 220 220 
			 Albany 148 149 150 
			 Ashwell 101 105 109 
			 Askham Grange 29 29 30 
			 Aylesbury 187 187 187 
			 Bedford 141 146 151 
			 Belmarsh 511 530 671 
			 Birmingham 524 525 527 
			 Blakenhurst 256 258 258 
			 Blantyre House 31 38 40 
			 Blundeston 146 146 146 
			 Brinsford 227 243 247 
			 Bristol 232 238 244 
			 Brixton 223 235 244 
			 Brockhill 77 80 82 
			 Buckley Hall 106 106 106 
			 Bullingdon 241 299 302 
			 Bullwood Hall 74 78 82 
			 Camp Hill 162 164 166 
			 Canterbury 100 100 102 
			 Cardiff 244 246 248 
			 Castington 217 219 221 
			 Channings Wood 161 172 172 
			 Chelmsford 213 226 239 
			 Coldingley 91 117 121 
			 Cookham Wood/East Sutton Park 108 109 110 
			 Dartmoor 156 157 158 
			 Deerbolt 183 184 185 
			 Dorchester 105 106 107 
			 Dover 126 128 130 
			 Downview 125 128 131 
			 Drake Hall 83 84 85 
			 Durham 318 323 327 
			 Eastwood Park 148 150 151 
			 Edmunds Hill 125 126 127 
			 Elmley 205 205 205 
			 Erlestoke 114 117 120 
			 Everthorpe 172 172 172 
			 Exeter 181 181 180 
			 Featherstone 139 159 161 
			 Feltham 420 428 435 
			 Ford 63 64 65 
			 Foston Hall 133 141 159 
			 Frankland 561 578 593 
			 Full Sutton 465 470 473 
			 Garth 291 291 291 
			 Gartree 207 210 214 
			 Glen Parva 260 262 263 
			 Gloucester 122 124 125 
			 Grendon 145 150 154 
			 Guys Marsh 136 138 140 
			 Haslar 53 54 54 
			 Haverigg 128 143 147 
			 Hewell Grange 29 29 29 
			 High Down 274 322 321 
			 Highpoint 186 188 190 
			 Hindley 214 229 233 
			 Hollesley Bay 52 52 52 
			 Holloway 262 267 272 
			 Holme House 305 305 305 
			 Hull 338 336 336 
			 Huntercombe 162 164 166 
			 Kennet ? 70 70 
			 Kingston 74 74 74 
			 Kirkham 97 98 99 
			 Kirklevington Grange 45 45 45 
			 Lancaster 87 89 90 
			 Lancaster Farms 245 245 245 
			 Latchmere House 36 36 36 
			 Leeds 362 363 364 
			 Leicester 128 133 137 
			 Lewes 162 164 201 
			 Leyhill 66 68 70 
			 Lincoln 201 201 203 
			 Lindholme 238 238 238 
			 Littlehey 158 198 198 
			 Liverpool 419 423 426 
			 Long Lartin 370 370 406 
			 Low Newton 153 153 153 
			 Maidstone 149 153 157 
			 Manchester 497 508 519 
			 Moorland 321 321 321 
			 Morton Hall 115 115 116 
			 New Hall 215 215 215 
			 North Sea Camp 55 56 57 
			 Northallerton 64 65 66 
			 Norwich 200 227 233 
			 Nottingham 215 220 274 
			 Onley 188 198 212 
			 Parkhurst 180 182 183 
			 Pentonville 386 386 386 
			 Portland 185 198 199 
			 Preston 249 250 250 
			 Ranby 262 249 251 
			 Reading 115 116 116 
			 Risley 287 290 294 
			 Rochester 140 190 191 
			 Send 76 95 98 
			 Shepton Mallet 62 62 62 
			 Shrewsbury 107 111 114 
			 Stafford 156 158 158 
			 Standford Hill 62 62 61 
			 Stocken 151 187 190 
			 Stoke Heath 232 253 257 
			 Styal 186 186 238 
			 Sudbury 67 67 67 
			 Swaleside 206 206 302 
			 Swansea 152 151 151 
			 Swinfen Hall 206 207 208 
			 The Mount 155 169 174 
			 The Veme 107 108 109 
			 Thorn Cross 119 121 124 
			 Usk/Prescoed 92 92 92 
			 Wakefield 411 425 439 
			 Wandsworth 390 394 400 
			 Warren Hill 148 149 149 
			 Wayland 150 210 209 
			 Wealstun 194 194 194 
			 Wellingborough 175 176 176 
			 Werrington 82 85 88 
			 Wetherby 173 229 231 
			 Whatton 198 211 212 
			 Whitemoor 468 471 474 
			 Winchester 190 193 216 
			 Woodhill 455 466 477 
			 Wormwood Scrubs 313 316 318 
			 Wymott 244 249 254 
			 Sheppey Reducing Reoffending(2) 119 132 145 
			 (1 )Projections are based on Operational Staffing Requirements as reported by each establishment on a quarterly basis and estimates of the staffing required for new capacity. The new capacity projections are not based on submitted and validated bids but on staffing guidelines. Some of the operational dates may change and some builds do not yet have planning permission. Although not actually within the timeframe of the table a further prison, HMP Ashworth, is due to become operational in 2009-10 with an estimated need for 120 officers. Where a shortfall is currently recorded, this is assumed to fall to negligible levels by April 2009. The projections relate to the number of posts expected to be filled, either through permanent staffing or the use of contracted supplementary hours. Projected staffing figures are not available for contracted establishments, with the exception of Rye Hill (148 prison custody officers in 2012) and Wolds (106 prison custody officers in 2012). The other contracted establishments employed a total of 1726 prison custody officers on 31 December 2006. (2 )Clustered services

Prison Service: Pay

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the  (a) starting salary and  (b) average salary is of prison officers in (i) public sector prisons and (ii) private sector prisons.

John Reid: The current starting salary of prison officers in the public sector is £17,744 per annum, with an average salary of £23,922. These figures exclude oncosts. In addition, locality payments ranging between £250 and £4,250 are paid at certain establishments.
	The averaged starting salaries and average salary for prison custody officers at each contracted company are in the following table.
	
		
			  Average starting salaries and average salary for prison custody officers at each contracted company 
			  Company  Averaged starting salary(£)  Average salary(£) 
			 GSL 17,403 18,856 
			 G4S 15,808 18,803 
			 KALYX 16,798 17,417 
			 SERCO 15,650 n/a

Prisons

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of the prison population are from Eastern Europe; for what types of crime such inmates were convicted; and in how many such cases is it known that such inmates had committed crimes before entering the UK.

Gerry Sutcliffe: At the end of September 2006 there were 166 prisoners from the countries Armenia, Azerbijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine being detained in prison establishments within England and Wales, and these countries are the current extent of the officially recognised area of Eastern Europe. This represented 0.2 per cent. of the prison population of 79,355.
	Information on the numbers of foreign nationals according to offence type can be found in table 8.29 in the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005, at the website:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/hosb1806section8.xls
	Information about crimes committed by nationals from Eastern European countries before they entered the UK is not routinely collected by the police. Requests for such information are made at the discretion of the investigating police force depending on operational need.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system, and although shown to the last individual the figures may not be accurate to that level.

Proceeds of Crime Act 2002

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the  (a) one-off and  (b) recurring cost of implementing the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to (i) businesses and (ii) the regulators.

Vernon Coaker: According to work completed by PricewaterhouseCoopers last year as part of the Home Office Simplification Plan, which was published on 11 December 2006, the estimated administrative burden on business of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 was £1.44 million. This excludes policy costs (i.e. those costs which arise as a direct result of the policy, for example updating an IT system) and also those costs a business would choose to incur anyway (e.g. maintaining records for their own business purposes). No estimate has been made of any additional costs to the Financial Services Authority which is the main regulatory body affected.

Serious Organised Crime Agency

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Serious Organised Crime Agency officers have been trained in powers of arrest since 1 April 2006.

Vernon Coaker: No Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) officers have specifically trained in the power of arrest since 1 April 2006. All SOCA staff that have the power of arrest were designated with this power on the basis of the powers they brought with them from their precursor agencies and the continuing need to hold such powers whilst an officer of SOCA.

Serious Organised Crime Agency

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many investigations have been referred to the Serious Organised Crime Agency by HM Revenue and Customs officials since 1 April 2006.

John Reid: The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) has received some 452 notifications from HM Revenue and Customs relating to drugs, firearms and counterfeit currency. There is an agreed framework between SOCA and HMRC regarding these notifications; some of which will be developed into investigations and subsequently subject to operational activity.

Surveillance: Evidence

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the use of intercept evidence in trials on the effectiveness of the security services.

Tony McNulty: The most recent assessment of the potential impact of intercept as evidence in trials was undertaken as part of a 2003-04 review which my right hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, South (Mr. Clarke) reported to the House in his written ministerial statement on 26 January 2005,  Official Report, column 18WS. The review found that the use of intercept as evidence would be likely to help secure a modest increase in convictions of some serious criminals but not terrorists. The report made it clear that the use of intercept as evidence would entail substantial risks to the operational effectiveness of the intercepting agencies.
	My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary said in the debate on the Intelligence and Security Committee on 11 July 2006 that the Government was committed to finding if possible a legal model to allow evidential use of intercept material while providing the necessary safeguards for the capabilities, techniques and operational effectiveness of the intercepting agencies. Work on devising a legal model is continuing.

Traffic Officers

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many full-time equivalent police officers whose main responsibility is traffic there are in each police force area ; and how many there were at 31 March 2006.

Tony McNulty: The numbers of police officers whose primary function is traffic are collected on an annual basis only, and the latest available data are as at 31 March 2006. These data are given in the table.
	
		
			  Police officers whose primary function is traffic( 1) , by police force as at 31 March 2006( 2)  (FTE)( 3) 
			   31 March 2006 
			 Avon and Somerset 215 
			 Bedfordshire 81 
			 Cambridgeshire 99 
			 Cheshire 85 
			 Cleveland 61 
			 Cumbria 111 
			 Derbyshire 119 
			 Devon and Cornwall 215 
			 Dorset 81 
			 Durham 105 
			 Essex 243 
			 Gloucestershire 73 
			 Greater Manchester 342 
			 Hampshire 240 
			 Hertfordshire 149 
			 Humberside 181 
			 Kent 116 
			 Lancashire 197 
			 Leicestershire 77 
			 Lincolnshire 102 
			 London, City of 24 
			 Merseyside 138 
			 Metropolitan police 603 
			 Norfolk 112 
			 Northamptonshire 63 
			 Northumbria 167 
			 North Yorkshire 97 
			 Nottinghamshire 134 
			 South Yorkshire 141 
			 Staffordshire 28 
			 Suffolk 80 
			 Surrey 99 
			 Sussex 160 
			 Thames Valley 236 
			 Warwickshire 97 
			 West Mercia 116 
			 West Midlands 401 
			 West Yorkshire 343 
			 Wiltshire 13 
			 Dyfed-Powys 143 
			 Gwent 102 
			 North Wales 81 
			 South Wales 243 
			 (1) Staff with multiple responsibilities (or designations) are recorded under their primary role or function. The deployment of police officers is an operational matter for individual Chief Constables. (2) Data are not available prior to 2002-03. (3) Full-time equivalent rounded to the nearest whole number. This figure includes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave.

Food Labelling

David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues responsible for food labelling on the amount of imported food that is labelled produced in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues responsible for food labelling on the amount of imported food that is labelled produced in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: There is already legislation that requires origin labelling for a number of specific foodstuffs. In general labelling rules require that origin information must not mislead the consumer; however the Trades Description Act allows any product that has undergone substantial changes to be described as UK produced.

Speciality Foods

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what support his Department gives for promoting the wider availability of speciality foods.

Ben Bradshaw: We support them in many ways, including through Food From Britain, the regional development agencies, support for farmers markets and the organic sector, the public sector food procurement initiative, the EU protected food name scheme and by encouraging the retailers to source more speciality, regional and local food. My officials calculate that since the launch of our regional food strategy in December 2002 total Government support for speciality, regional and local food is in the region of £20 million.

Marine Environment

Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to protect the marine environment.

Ben Bradshaw: We have taken an unprecedented number of steps to protect the marine environment. And later this month we plan to publish our Marine Bill White Paper with radical proposals to improve management and protection of our seas.

Biofuel Crops

Meg Hillier: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what support his Department gives British farmers to diversify into biofuel crops.

Ian Pearson: Farmers can receive the single payment for transport biofuel crops grown on set-aside and non set-aside land. The European Union's €45/ha Energy Aid payment can also be claimed where biofuel crops are grown on non set-aside land.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions he has had with the European Commission on the disallowance arising from Common Agricultural Policy schemes, notably the single farm payment; what assessment he has made of the European Commission's audit of England's 2005 single farm payment; what progress the European Commission has made with its audit of England's 2005 single farm payment; whether the European Commission has  (a) made an assessment of the financial correction and  (b) requested any money; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: During their regular meetings, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, and the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development have discussed the administration of the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) in England on a number of occasions. However, the European Commission's audit of the 2005 SPS is on-going and it is too early to draw any firm conclusions. No proposals have been made to date for financial corrections and, should the Commission make any in due course, the Government will continue to defend the UK's interests.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  when the estimate for disallowance arising from Common Agricultural Policy schemes, notably the single farm payment totalled £305 million; what the reasons were for this increase from earlier estimates; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 20 February 2007,  Official Report, column 25WS, on the Spring Supplementary Estimates, if he will give a breakdown of the £305 million claim on the reserve to cover for provision for disallowance arising from Common Agricultural Policy schemes, notably the single farm payment, and the possible financial correction the European Commission may apply; what the reasons were for the disallowances; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: The European Commission audits Common Agricultural Policy schemes payments every year. We make provision for potential disallowances at the end of the financial year based on a prudent assessment at that time of issues raised in relation to progress in making payments and regulatory compliance; if necessary, cover is also obtained in the Spring Supplementary Estimate. These provisions do not, however, imply acceptance of this level of disallowance, should it be proposed by the Commission. Detailed discussions will take place with the Commission over a number of years before a final figure is reached. The Government will, of course, continue to defend the UK's interests in these discussions.

Bovine Tuberculosis

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much was spent on bovine tuberculosis in each year since 1997, broken down by budget heading.

Ben Bradshaw: A breakdown of bovine TB expenditure in Great Britain, between the years 1997 and 2005-06, is set out in the following table:
	
		
			  £ millions 
			  Activity  1997( 1)  1998-99  1999-2000  2000-01  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 Cattle testing 5.49 7.3 17.6 13.3 5.4 24.7 33.2 36.4 36.7 
			 Compensation 1.44 3.5 5.3 6.6 9.2 31.9 34.4 35.0 41.9 
			 RBCT 1.66 2.9 4.6 6.6 6.0 6.6 7.3 7.2 6.2 
			 Surveillance activity by the VLA 0.43 0.9 2.4 3.5 3.7 4.1 5.3 4.9 7.5 
			 Other research 1.72 2.5 3.8 5.3 6.1 6.5 7.0 5.7 6.5 
			 HQ/overheads 4.1 6.7 4.5 0.9 0.1 0.7 1.0 1.3 1.8 
			 Totals 16.06 24.8 33.2 36.2 30.5 74.5 88.2 90.5 99.1 
			 (1) 1997 is calendar year only. 1998-99 figures onwards are financial years.

Carbon Dioxide: Air Pollution

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what the percentage change in UK emissions was of  (a) carbon dioxide and  (b) the Kyoto basket of six greenhouse gases between (i) 1990 and (ii) 1997 and the most recent year for which figures are available; and how this compares to other Kyoto Annex 1 countries;
	(2)  how much UK carbon dioxide emissions have changed in the UK in each year since 1990, and when the UK's share of international shipping aviation emissions are included in the figures.

Ian Pearson: Table 1 shows the percentage change in Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions between 1990 and 2004, and 1997 and 2004; this is for those countries which are Annex I Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, and which reported emissions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2006. Data for 2005 are not yet generally available for other countries. However, estimates recently published by my Department show that UK emissions of carbon dioxide and the Kyoto basket of six gases fell by 0.4 million tonnes and 3.1 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents respectively between 2004 and 2005.
	Under the EU ETS, UK companies are able to buy emissions allowances from other EU countries to be taken into accounting when determining whether the Kyoto target and 2010 domestic goal have been met. The number of allowances issued to UK installations covered by the scheme was 27 million less than their emissions in 2005. The Electricity Supply Industry emitted 36.5 million tonnes more than its allocation; other sectors emitted 9.5 million tonnes less. Adjusted for emissions trading, UK CO2 emissions in 2005 were about 527 million tonnes—approximately 11 per cent. lower than 1990 levels and 3.9 per cent. below the 1997 level.
	Table 2 shows UK CO2 emissions between 1990 and 2005 (the latest year for which data is available). Emissions from international shipping and international aviation are not included in totals used to judge progress against the UK's domestic and international targets.
	
		
			  Table 1: annex I greenhouse gas emissions 
			   Percentage change in:  
			  Party  C0 2  emissions 1990-2004  C0 2  emissions 1997-2004  GHG emissions 1990-2004  GHG emissions 1997-2004  Kyoto target (percentage) 
			 United Kingdom -6.4 1.1 -14.4 -7.1 -12.5 
			 Austria 21 .0 25.0 11 .5 16.2 -13 
			 Belarus(1) -52.5 -7.3 -46.2 -3.7 -8 
			 Belgium 6.9 4.0 1.7 0.1 -7.5 
			 Bulgaria(1) -47.7 -28.1 -48.6 -22.7 -8 
			 Canada 74.8 66.7 62.2 51.1 -6 
			 Croatia(1) -27.5 -321.9 -21.6 297.0 -5 
			 Czech Republic(1) -25.0 -8.0 -26.8 -8.0 -8 
			 Denmark -2.7 -17.6 -5.2 -15.9 -21 
			 Finland 43.3 10.7 26.6 6.4 0 
			 France -1 .4 -0.1 -6.1 -4.7 0 
			 Germany -15.2 -3.7 -18.3 -6.6 -21 
			 Greece 29.4 16.0 25.3 12.2 +25 
			 Hungary(1) -21.2 -3.8 -21.8 -2.1 -6 
			 Iceland -1.2 -7.1 -7.4 -5.7 +10 
			 Ireland 38.3 17.0 22.8 7.4 +13 
			 Italy 8.2 11.6 8.5 10.4 -6.5 
			 Japan 11 .4 3.6 5.2 -0.3 -6 
			 Latvia(1) 208.4 -20.5 -161.5 -31.9 -8 
			 Netherlands 13.3 5.6 2.3 -3.5 -6 
			 New Zealand 50.6 -28.1 17.9 -1.4 0 
			 Norway -12.4 -33.6 -18.8 -25.5 +1 
			 Portugal 34.5 26.0 28.8 19.1 +27 
			 Romania(1) -38.2 -5.7 -38.5 -4.1 -8 
			 Slovakia(1) -34.2 -11.6 -34.1 -11.0 -8 
			 Spain 57.6 37.8 50.5 30.8 +15 
			 Sweden 12.8 -10.1 6.4 -9.5 +4 
			 Ukraine(1) -58.5 -4.3 -57.2 -5.7 0 
			 (1) A party undergoing the process of transition to a market economy (an economies in transition (EIT) party). 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: UK CO 2  emissions between 1990 and 2005 
			   UK CO 2  emissions/million tonnes of CO 2  (MtCO 2 )  Percentage change since 1990  UKCO 2  emissions including UK international shipping and aviation bunkers/MtCO 2  Percentage change in CO 2  emissions since 1990, including international bunkers 
			 1990 592.1 — 637.3 — 
			 1991 598.9 1.1 643.2 0.9 
			 1992 581.9 -1.7 630.1 -1.1 
			 1993 567 -4.2 617.3 -3.1 
			 1994 559.2 -5.6 610.1 -4.3 
			 1995 549.6 -7.2 603.9 -5.2 
			 1996 571.3 -3.5 629.3 -1.3 
			 1997 548.4 -7.4 610.9 -4.1 
			 1998 550.1 -7.1 619.3 -2.8 
			 1999 540.8 -8.7 609.4 -4.4 
			 2000 548.8 -7.3 621.5 -2.5 
			 2001 559.6 -5.5 632.2 -0.8 
			 2002 543.2 -8.3 612.5 -3.9 
			 2003 555.1 -6.2 625.4 -1.9 
			 2004 554.6 -6.3 633.4 -0.6 
			 2005 554.2 -6.4 636.8 -0.1 
			 2005(1) 527.2 -11 .0 609.8 -4.3 
			 (1) Taking into account the impact of the EU ETS.

Carbon Dioxide: Pollution Control

Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what guidance his Department is proposing to publish on the off-setting of carbon emissions.

Ian Pearson: The Government launched a consultation on establishing a code of best practice for carbon offsetting on 18 January and this runs until 13 April. We plan to support the code by providing guidance on offsetting to consumers, to help them make informed decisions about their actions.

Chewing Gum: Waste Disposal

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what efforts are being made to encourage local authorities to take action against chewing gum litter.

Ben Bradshaw: Last week, the DEFRA-funded chewing gum Action group invited local authorities to apply for paid for advertising funds to tackle this issue. This follows the 2006 campaigns which saw reductions in gum litter of up to 72 per cent..
	Guidance on how to run a local campaign on this issue was issued to interested local authorities in January 2006. This included elements on:
	(i) enforcement
	(ii) partnership working with businesses and schools
	(iii) working with local media; and
	(iv) monitoring gum deposition.
	The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act provided local authorities with greater enforcement powers to tackle this issue. Fixed penalty notices of up to £80 can be issued for dropping litter, as an alternative to prosecution. Statutory guidance on these powers was issued to all local authorities in April 2006, and further guidance on fixed penalty notices and enforcement will be distributed soon.

Departments: Databases

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what databases are controlled by his Department and its agencies; and what percentage of the data in each database he estimates is inaccurate or out of date.

Ian Pearson: Defra controls hundreds of applications, many of which can be defined as a database. To provide an answer to this question would require an interrogation of each application, to do so would incur a disproportionate cost to the Department.

Departments: Finance

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what change there was in  (a) value and  (b) percentage in the capital budgets of each of his Department's executive agencies following his Department's budget review in 2006, as referred to in the answer of 24 October 2006,  Official Report, columns 1723-4W, on Executive Agencies.

Ian Pearson: Information about changes in  (a) value and  (b) percentage in the capital budgets of each of DEFRA's executive agencies for 2006-07 following the budget review in 2006 is set out in the following table. As part of this review, RPA's capital budget was increased by £19.2 million to provide for additional investment in improving the Agency's payment systems and £3 million was transferred from the resource to the capital budget of the State Veterinary Service, to provide for the Agency's Business Reform programme. The capital budgets of DEFRA's other Executive Agencies remain unchanged as the result of the budget review in 2006.
	
		
			  DEFRA's Executive Agencies  Capital budget allocation (before the 2006 budget review) (£ million)  Capital budget allocation (after the 2006 budget review) (£ million)  Percentage change 
			 Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) 1.600 1.600 0 
			 Central Science Laboratory (CSL) 1.500 1.500 0 
			 Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) 0.200 0.200 0 
			 Rural Payments Agency (RPA) 4.700 23.900 +409 
			 State Veterinary Service (SVS 7.300 10.300 +41 
			 Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) 22.800 22.800 0 
			 Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) 0.300 0.300 0

Departments: Finance

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what correspondence his Department has received on the budget reallocation for each of its executive agencies referred to in the answer of 24 October 2006,  Official Report, columns 1723-4W, on executive agencies; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many items of correspondence his Department has received on the budget reallocation of its executive agencies as referred to in the Answer of 24 October 2006,  Official Report, columns 1723-4W, on executive agencies, broken down by agency.

Ian Pearson: We have received a number of items of correspondence about the impact on specific agencies. Some were seeking further information about the changes, others highlighting concerns about the impact on specific bodies and their work or on their customers. These included a freedom of information request about the impact on Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS).
	The number of items of correspondence for each of the nine executive agencies is as follows:
	
		
			  Executive Agency  Items of correspondence 
			 CEFAS 1 
			 Central Science Laboratory 0 
			 Government Decontamination Service 0 
			 Marine Fisheries Agency 0 
			 Pesticides Safety Directorate 0 
			 Rural Payments Agency 2 
			 State Veterinary Service 3 
			 Veterinary Laboratories Agency 0 
			 Veterinary Medicines Directorate 1 
			 General (across all nine agencies) 1

Environmental Campaigns

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of environmental campaigns funded by his Department; and if he will place in the Library copies of such assessments;
	(2)  what performance indicators his Department and its predecessors have used to assess the impact of publicly-funded environmental communications campaigns since 1997; if he will publish the performance of each such campaign as measured by such indicators; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: DEFRA was created in June 2001. Since then, DEFRA has funded various environmental campaigns through the core department, NDPBs and its key delivery partners.
	 DEFRA—Climate Change Communications Initiative
	 Climate Challenge Fund
	DEFRA has not yet completed an assessment of the effectiveness of the Climate Challenge Fund projects which are part of the Climate Change Communications Initiative. We are funding 83 projects that commenced work in July 2006 and are due to run until February 2008. Plans are being made to assess the effectiveness of the projects and this will be made available in the summer of 2008. Each of the projects has been provided with a list of standardised statements to use when assessing their own project's effectiveness and they will have the opportunity to attend a workshop to assist them on the evaluation of changing attitudes to climate change.
	 Film and brochure
	The two-minute film "Tomorrow's Climate, Today's Challenge", developed as part of the campaign and accompanied by the brochure "Your Guide to Communicating Climate Change", has been downloaded approximately 40,000 times and distributed another 6,000 times. It has also been shown as a free 'filler' on 10 television channels and accrued £5.5 million worth of airtime since December 2005.
	 Website
	The website www.climatechallenge.gov.uk created as the central collateral resource for the Climate Change Communications Initiative has received an average of 120,000 page views per month.
	 DEFRA—Every Action Counts
	The Every Action Counts campaign was launched in October 2006 and is a community engagement campaign that encourages voluntary sector organisations to make an active contribution to securing a more sustainable future. The initiative is designed to help local community groups, clubs and societies take action together to help protect the environment and improve quality of life.
	Every Action Counts is part of a three-year campaign and there will be ongoing evaluation on a yearly basis throughout this time. As the campaign is currently in its first year, some early evaluation results are available and are listed as follows:
	25 national third sector organisations are taking part in the initiative to develop their own sustainable development action plans.
	320 community workers have already been trained in sustainable development so that they can engage with local groups on environmental action.
	240 community groups/organisations have registered on the Every Action Counts website with the aim of taking part in environmental action on a local level.
	From 19 October 2006 to 7 February 2007, the website has had just over one million hits.
	Every Action Counts has a three-year independent evaluation study to look at the effectiveness of the initiative. The first report should be available in April 2007.
	 Environment Agency
	The Environment Agency runs two main environmental campaigns: World Environment day and Flood Awareness. World Environment day is assessed by monitoring the number of pledges made and the growth in pledges year on year. The Environment Agency also conducts an environmental benefits assessment based on the assumption that people will carry out their pledges.
	Market Research on Flood awareness has been carried out since 1997 to measure the general awareness of flood risk regarding the Agency's role in managing flooding and the behaviours of those at risk in either preparing for or following flooding.
	The Minister of State (Climate Change and the Environment) meets with the Environment Agency regularly to review its overall performance.
	 Energy Saving Trust
	Since 2004-05, EST has quantified the carbon impact of its consumer campaigns to promote energy saving. These have resulted in carbon savings, for each financial year, of the order of 125,000 tonnes of carbon p.a. These complement other channels of communicating with consumers, including EST's advice network, hotline and website.
	The main metric of campaign effectiveness is policy cost-effectiveness—Government expenditure per tonne of carbon saved (£/tC). Overall, EST's activities targeting consumers are highly cost-effective, with a policy cost of around £5 per lifetime tonne of carbon saved. This is consistent with the analysis of the work of the Energy Saving Trust in the Climate Change Programme Review.
	 ENCAMS
	Each year ENCAMS run different campaigns, agreed with the local environment quality team in DEFRA based on priority issues that come through from the Local Environmental Quality Survey of England. In 2006-07 the following campaigns were implemented:
	Fast Food Related Litter—Have some Pride Campaign (June 2006);
	Nuisance Noise Campaign—July 2006
	Fast Food Related Litter—August 2006—Rats Campaign; and
	Fast Food Related Litter—December 2006—Night Time Economy
	ENCAMS works closely with partnership authorities to measure the impact of its campaigns in their areas. With the help of ENCAMS, partner councils define specific hotspot sites, clean them, monitor build up of the particular litter type and repeat this process over a measured period. Monitoring usually takes place two weeks before the campaign starts, two weeks during the campaign period and then a month following the end of the campaign. The detailed information collected enables ENCAMS to assess the success of its campaigns.
	ENCAMS also undertakes market research to assess the impact of messages and its likelihood to influence behaviour, and the Local Environmental Quality Survey of England assesses the overall national picture; and uses a corporate 'scorecard' to assess the success of its campaigns.
	 The Carbon Trust
	The Carbon Trust reports to DEFRA on performance and activity to meet key company objectives each quarter. This reporting information includes identified and implemented carbon savings, number of registrations to the company website, and annual survey results of FTSE Board, FTSE non-Board, mid-sized companies and SMEs' receptiveness to the Carbon Trust.
	 Envirowise
	Envirowise offers business a range of free services, including: a telephone helpline and website; best practice guides and case studies; free on-site waste review visits; and workshops.
	Independent assessments of Envirowise's impact on UK business have been regularly undertaken since the programme's formation. These assessments measure the level of savings, both financial and in terms of various waste streams, that have been achieved from the programme's encouragement of waste minimisation and resource efficient practices. Types of waste streams measured include water, effluent, raw materials and solid waste.
	The programme has, since its inception in 1994, helped business make over £1.3 billion in cumulative savings while at the same time reducing business waste to landfill by 8.5 million tonnes.
	 Waste and Resources Action Programme
	The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) conducts recycling communications campaigns at local and national level. Its national campaign is called "Recycle Now".
	WRAP's Business Plan for 2004-06, which was developed in consultation with DEFRA, set targets for its national and local communications activities. These are given as follows, alongside the performance achieved for each.
	
		
			  Percentage 
			  Activity  Target 2004-06  Performance 2004-06 
			  National Recycle Now Campaign   
			 Increase the number of committed recyclers (that is, those who regard recycling as important, those who recycle even if it requires additional effort, and who recycle a lot or everything that they can) +10 +12 
			
			  Local Authority Run Campaigns   
			  Increase the participation in recycling through the funding of local authority programmes:   
			 New recycling schemes 10 to 50 74 
			 Improved recycling schemes 10 to 50 From 45 to 65 
			 Pure communication activities 10 to 50 From 59 to 64 
		
	
	WRAP's local communications campaigns partially achieved their target. Not all of the funded local authorities achieved an increase in participation, but on average, the results were good.
	In its 2006-08 Business Plan, WRAP has set a target of increasing the number of committed recyclers by a further 10 per cent. WRAP is currently on track to meet this target. Overall performance against the target will be published in WRAP's 2007-08 Achievements Report, with WRAP's 2006-07 Achievements Report providing an update on progress towards the target.
	WRAP and DEFRA have together reviewed the value for money of the Recycle Now campaign. The campaign work undertaken to raise public awareness of recycling and bring about behavioural change will have impacts over the next few years in terms of messages being sustained by the public and creating better value for money in future recycling campaigns targeted at a more receptive public. The current levels of expenditure represent £0.51 between 2004-06 per household for the national Recycle Now campaign which is within the range of costs reported by other EU member states for similar campaigns.
	The Recycle Now campaign marketing materials achieve high public recognition and have been taken up by the majority of English local authorities, as well as several major retailers on packs and in store.
	An independent survey carried out by marketing groups has shown that the Recycle Now television adverts generate very strong public recognition and, therefore, compare favourably to successful commercial advertisements with significantly larger budgets.

Environmental Stewardship Scheme

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the  (a) number,  (b) area and  (c) value is of new (i) entry level and (ii) higher level environmental stewardship schemes that have been offered since 1 January.

Ian Pearson: The following table confirms the position as at 28 February 2007:
	
		
			   Entry level stewardship (ELS)  Higher level stewardship (HLS) 
			 Number of agreements 1,106 98 
			 Area under agreement (ha) 205,234 14,976 
			 Expected total value of agreements (£) 29,714,460 13,639,102 
		
	
	The financial figures represent the agreement value over the five year life span for ELS and the 10 year life span for HLS.

Floods: Property

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many properties his Department purchased in high risk flood plains in each of the last three years for which records are available.

Ian Pearson: The Department has not purchased any properties in high risk flood plains in the last three years for which records are available.

Internet

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether his Department has amended its communications  (a) strategy and  (b) budget in response to the recommendations of the Transformational Government strategy, with particular reference to environmental communications websites.

Ian Pearson: DEFRA fully supports Transformational Government. The Department's web communications strategy reflects the need to provide more customer focused information and services via Directgov and Business Link, the Government's primary websites for citizen and business engagement. DEFRA has established an environment and greener living section on Directgov. This provides practical advice and guidance for citizens at home and at work to help tackle climate change and other environmental issues. It includes sections on shopping, travel, food and drink, waste and recycling, energy and water saving, gardening, and ideas on how to be greener in your workplace, school or community. DEFRA will continue to work closely with other Government Departments and delivery partners to offer a broader range of environmental information via this service.
	DEFRA is in the process of reviewing the budgets available for web communications for the next financial year to ensure the Department can deliver to the Transformational Government agenda.

Processed Animal Proteins (England) Regulations 2001

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the  (a) one-off and  (b) recurring cost of implementing the Processed Animal Proteins (England) Regulations 2001 to (i) businesses and (ii) the regulators.

Ben Bradshaw: A full regulatory impact assessment was published alongside the Processed Animal Proteins (England) Regulations 2001. Copies were made available in the Library of the House.
	The successful application of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) feed controls has brought about a year on year reduction in the incidence of BSE. This, along with the Government's other BSE controls, has enabled the over-30-month scheme to be replaced, at an annual saving to the taxpayer of £300 million, and paved the way for the beef export ban to be lifted.

10 Downing Street: Official Hospitality

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 
	(1)  what the estimated cost to the public purse was of the event held at 10 Downing street on 3 March involving 60 members of the public;
	(2)  if she will place in the Library a transcript of the event held at 10 Downing street on 3 March involving 60 members of the public.

Hilary Armstrong: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 26 January 2006,  Official Report, column 2127W, this refers to the whole citizens forum process. A comprehensive report of the Citizens Summit event held at Downing street on 3 March will be published later in the month and a copy will be placed in the Library for the reference of Members.

Project George

Oliver Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster pursuant to the answer of 26 February 2007,  Official Report, column 1016W, on Project George, what estimate of costs has been budgeted for within the Cabinet Office estates budget; what the remit and purpose are of Project George; what the timetable is for the works; whether the works will require planning permission; whether  (a) the Chancellor of the Exchequer and  (b) HM Treasury have been consulted on the (i) planning and (ii) implementation of the project; and if she will place in the Library the architect's plans for the project.

Hilary Armstrong: holding answer 2 March 2007
	No significant refurbishment works have been undertaken at 70 Whitehall and the Downing street complex since the large scale rebuilding works that took place between 1960 and 1963. Much of the infrastructure at 70 Whitehall now needs to be renewed and/or upgraded, including ventilation and cooling systems, electrical transformers, and IT and telecommunications cabling, as well as seeking to improve access and reception arrangements and other essential maintenance works. A decision has been taken to pursue necessary improvements through ongoing annual maintenance works. Planning permission and/or listed building consent will be sought where required. Any costs involved in the maintenance and improvement of the Cabinet Office estate will be included in the Cabinet Office accounts.

Belfast Festival

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what funding his Department has made available to the Belfast Festival at Queen's in each year since 1997; and what steps he is taking to increase the funding made available by his Department to the Festival.

Maria Eagle: The following table shows the total funding made available from Government Departments and agencies (including National Lottery funding) in each year since 1997 to Belfast Festival at Queen's.
	
		
			   £ 
			   Total 
			 1997-98 290,911 
			 1998-99 277,167 
			 1999-2000 371,707 
			 2000-01 294,000 
			 2001-02 479,915 
			 2002-03 316,084 
			 2003-04 325,000 
			 2004-05 364,350 
			 2005-06 275,355 
			 2006-07 234,500 
		
	
	On 16 February 2007,1 announced a one-off, exceptional grant of £150,000 from the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure towards costs for the 2007 Festival.

Firearms: Crime

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many incidences of gun-related crime there were in each police district command unit area in Northern Ireland in each of the past three years.

Paul Goggins: The chief constable has provided the following table of offences recorded by the police in Northern Ireland over the last three years in which a firearm was involved. The term 'firearm' includes handguns, shotguns, rifles, imitation firearms, BB guns and air guns.
	
		
			   2004  2005  2006 
			 Antrim 31 23 23 
			 Ards 62 63 30 
			 Armagh 16 18 18 
			 Ballymena 20 16 10 
			 Ballymoney 3 2 3 
			 Banbridge 10 12 4 
			 East Belfast 52 70 26 
			 North Belfast 119 150 96 
			 South Belfast 81 51 36 
			 West Belfast 86 82 56 
			 Carrickfergus 32 15 18 
			 Castlereagh 48 25 25 
			 Coleraine 31 30 16 
			 Cookstown 7 5 10 
			 Craigavon 68 78 40 
			 Down 34 42 14 
			 Dungannon and South Tyrone 11 20 8 
			 Fermanagh 9 22 15 
			 Foyle 40 40 40 
			 Larne 19 15 6 
			 Limavady 16 15 19 
			 Lisburn 35 42 20 
			 Magherafelt 6 5 5 
			 Moyle 6 3 2 
			 Newry and Mourne 40 41 34 
			 Newtownabbey 67 64 40 
			 North Down 41 53 29 
			 Omagh 19 17 4 
			 Strabane 23 19 19 
			 Northern Ireland 1,032 1,038 666 
			  Note: The figures for 2006 are provisional and liable to revision.

Sexual Offences

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many sexual assaults were recorded in each police district command unit area in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years; and what training and support was provided to police officers in Northern Ireland in dealing with such cases.

Paul Goggins: 'Sexual assault' is not a specific offence and therefore data under this heading is not recorded by PSNI. The following table details statistics relating to the number of all Recorded Sexual Offences by District Command Unit during the last five years.
	
		
			  Sexual Offences( 1)  recorded by District Command Unit for 2002 to 2006 
			  District Command Unit  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006( 2) 
			 East Belfast 54 55 106 95 74 
			 North Belfast 69 112 151 94 106 
			 South Belfast 112 149 165 138 157 
			 West Belfast 58 45 75 48 59 
			 Castlereagh 34 38 32 45 36 
			 North Down 55 56 48 74 68 
			 Ards 59 98 55 73 52 
			 Carrickfergus 18 17 30 21 29 
			 Lisburn 94 119 125 113 124 
			 Newtownabbey 33 43 110 68 79 
			 Antrim 31 32 32 39 66 
			 Larne 32 33 34 21 28 
			 Down 42 62 48 60 48 
			 Armagh 16 30 29 43 40 
			 Banbridge 31 40 40 29 31 
			 Newry and Mourne 44 80 56 56 66 
			 Cookstown 27 30 20 22 22 
			 Dungannon and South Tyrone 34 33 39 31 41 
			 Fermanagh 33 42 43 34 57 
			 Omagh 47 47 41 52 58 
			 Foyle 169 165 154 159 195 
			 Limavady 33 34 31 38 38 
			 Magherafelt 17 22 28 32 43 
			 Strabane 32 37 41 36 41 
			 Ballymena 54 75 61 75 68 
			 Ballymoney 26 20 7 20 21 
			 Coleraine 52 103 74 86 79 
			 Moyle 11 12 15 19 16 
			 Craigavon 62 77 57 78 82 
			   
			 Total 1,379 1,706 1,747 1,699 1,824 
			 (1) Sexual offence statistics comprise of the following offences—rape, attempted rape, unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 14 years, unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl over 14 years but under 17 years, indecent assaults (on female, female child, male and male child), indecency between males, indecent exposure, indecent conduct towards a child and other sexual offences.  (2) Please note that figures for 2006 are provisional and are liable to revision.   Source:  Central Statistics Unit, PSNI 
		
	
	PSNI provide a range of training and support to police officers dealing with such cases.
	In foundation programmes the following areas are covered in relation to sexual offences:
	How to identify the different offences of indecent assaults and rape.
	Initial actions to be taken in relation to securing evidence at the scene of an indecent assault /rape and from the victim.
	Procedure to be carried out during the initial investigation involving the use of the Child Abuse and Rape Enquiry (CARE) suite.
	The students also receive a presentation on rape trauma highlighting the trauma that victims of rape and sexual offences may suffer and how to identify it. Opportunities are also provided to learn about the work of key voluntary organisations such as Nexus and Samaritans.
	Crime training provides training for specialist officers in relation to interviewing and dealing with victims of sexual assault. Part of this training is provided jointly by police and social services.
	The PSNI will shortly be delivering a nationally accredited course in the investigation of sexual crime to its specialist officers from the CARE Units. This course will commence in April 2007.
	Work is also underway to establish the first Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Northern Ireland.

Ambulance Services

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many Copeland-based frontline paramedic staff went on stress-related sick leave in the 2005-06 financial year.

Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not held centrally. However, I have asked the chief executive of the North West Ambulance Service National Health Service Trust to write to you directly with this information.

Dermatology

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment her Department has made of the impact of schemes to reduce the number of GP referrals into secondary care by primary care trusts on patients with skin disease.

Rosie Winterton: No such assessment has been made centrally as this is for local determination. The Department has published guidance for general practitioners with a special interest in dermatology. The guidance draws on good practice and experience nationally and is intended to be advisory, offering best practice for the development of local services. A copy of the guidance has been placed in the Library and is available at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidanceArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4008233&chk=t3ZLMW

Hearing Impaired: Waiting Lists

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many people are waiting for hearing tests in  (a) England,  (b) West Yorkshire,  (c) Hemsworth constituency and  (d) Mid Yorkshire hospitals NHS trust; what steps are being taken to decrease these waiting lists; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  how many patients have been waiting  (a) more than six months,  (b) more than 12 months and  (c) more than 24 months for a hearing aid to be issued after an initial hearing test and diagnosis in (i) England, (ii) West Yorkshire, (iii) Hemsworth constituency and (iv) Mid Yorkshire hospitals NHS trust; and what steps are being taken to decrease these waiting times.

Ivan Lewis: The table contains information about the number of people waiting for audiological assessments, including hearing tests. A breakdown of data is not available for specific kinds of audiological tests. It includes details of the number of people waiting for audiological assessments within all primary care trusts (PCTs) in West Yorkshire. Figures on Hemsworth constituency are not available but figures for Wakefield PCT are shown in the table. We do not collect data about how long patients are waiting for a hearing aid fitting or issue following diagnosis.
	We collect data in weekly time bands, so more than 26 weeks and more than 52 weeks are used. The available data are in the table as shown.
	
		
			  Commissioner based waiting information for audiological assessments (end of December 2006) 
			   Total waiting  Total waiting over 26 weeks  Total waiting over 52 weeks 
			 All England 170,033 84,374 49,979 
			 PCTs in West Yorkshire 8,631 6,625 4,722 
			 Wakefield PCT(this includes Hemsworth) 3,972 3,190 2,316 
			 Mid Yorkshire hospitals NHS trust 5,934 4,768 3,457 
			  Source: Department of Health, DM01 
		
	
	In order to improve access and reduce waiting times for audiology services, a national action plan is being developed for publication soon.
	In addition to the development of the action plan, the Department has also announced the procurement of up to 300,000 audiology pathways to provide assessment, fitting and follow up.
	Both of these measures will assist in significantly reducing waiting times and will greatly benefit those who receive hearing aids.

Mental Health Services: Private Sector

Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding from the public purse for treatment in the private mental health sector for patients referred via the national health service was provided in each of the last five years.

Rosie Winterton: Information is not available in the requested format. Data is available for the reported cash investment in the independent sector by the national health service in mental health services for working age adults in 2002-03, but accurate date is not available prior to this. From 2003-04 onwards, data is available only for the combined voluntary and independent sector reported cash investment by the NHS in mental health services. Available data is shown in the table.
	
		
			  Non-statutory sector (independent and voluntary providers) reported cash investment in NHS mental health services for working age adults in England (£000) 
			   2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 Independent sector 303,728 n/a n/a n/a 
			 Voluntary sector 159,180 n/a n/a n/a 
			 Total non-statutory sector 462,908 618,786 695,269 803,679 
			  Source:  Mental Health Strategies February 2007

NHS: Constitutions

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she plans to introduce a constitution for the NHS, as stated in the letter from the Minister of State for Delivery and Reform, published to her Department's website on 31 January 2007; whether the NHS constitution will be enshrined in statute law; what assessment she has made of the merits of an NHS constitution; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: I am actively considering the suggestion made to me by the Minister of State for Delivery and Reform (Andy Burnham).

NHS: Statistics

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what sets of statistics relating to NHS services her Department stopped collecting in each of the last five years; and what the nature was of each set.

Andy Burnham: The Department is committed to ensuring the value of information collected fully justifies the cost of collection. Whilst ensuring that information required to manage the service, monitor performance and measure activity within the national health service is available. As priorities change, statistical collections are reviewed and may be dropped or revised, or new collections may be implemented.
	The Information Centre for health and social care is responsible for the regulation of all requests for information from the NHS by the Department, its associated arms length bodies, other public bodies and the private sector. The Information Centre's review of central returns (ROCR) process ensures that central collections of information are appropriate to their purpose, do not duplicate existing collections, and minimise the burden on the NHS in submitting the data. More information about the ROCR process is available at:
	www.ic.nhs.uk/rocr
	Details of NHS collections discontinued from 2002 onwards are shown in the table.
	
		
			  NHS data collections discontinued from 2002 onwards 
			  Title  Reference  Year last collected  Frequency  Work area 
			 Summary of Clinical Psychology Services KT24 2002 Annual Mental health 
			 Acute Hospital Patient Centred and Clinical Information Systems Survey.  2003 Continuous Hospital services 
			 GMP Calculation of Superannuable Remuneration SUR1 2003 Annual Workforce 
			 GMS-Monthly Summary of Non-cash Limited Expenditure FIS(FHS)4A 2003 Monthly Finance 
			 GMS-quarterly Analysis of Cash Limited Expenditure FIS(FHS)4C/TS CAP(CL) 2003 Quarterly Finance 
			 GMS-quarterly Analysis of GP Fund holding and PFMA FIS(FHS)4D/TS CAP(CL) 2003 Quarterly Finance 
			 GMS-quarterly Summary of Non-Cash Limited Expenditure FIS(FHS)4B/TS CAP(NCL) 2003 Quarterly Finance 
			 Health visiting and other Professional Advice and Support in the community KC55 2003 Annual Community care 
			 NHS Day Care: Availability and Use of Facilities KH14 2003 Annual Older people 
			 Sight tests and Opticians Workload Survey  2003 Annual Primary care 
			 Summary of Occupational Therapy Services KT26 2003 Annual Hospital services 
			 Summary of Physiotherapy Services KT27 2003 Annual Hospital services 
			 Summary of Speech and Language Therapy Services KT29 2003 Annual Hospital services 
			 Cancer Waiting Times: Monitoring the Two Week Target QMCW 2004 Quarterly Cancer 
			 Collection of Controls Assurance Data  2004 Annual Governance 
			 Consultant Outpatient Clinic Activity and Accident and Emergency Services Activity (KH09) KH09 2004 Annual Hospital services 
			 Landlords expenses survey: notional rents and interest on loans  2004 Continuous Workforce 
			 Patient Care in the Community: Community Learning Disability Nursing KC58 2004 Annual Older people 
			 Patient Care in the Community: Community KC57 2004 Annual Older people 
			 Mental Health Nursing 
			 Patient Care in the Community: District Nursing KC56 2004 Annual Older people 
			 Patient Care in the Community: Specialist Care Nursing KC59 2004 Annual Older people 
			 Practices below a minimum standard CEN3A 2004 Annual Workforce 
			 Summary of Ward Attenders (KH05) KH05 2004 Annual Hospital services 
			 Assessment of Consultants Performance MCP500 2004 Biannual Finance 
			 Assessment of Contractors Performance MCP600 2004 Biannual Finance 
			 Contract Monitoring Following Tender MCP300 2004 Continuous Finance 
			 Contract Tender Reporting MCP200 A&B 2004 Biannual Finance 
			 Decontamination Organisational Review Information System (DORIS)  2004 Annual Estates services 
			 Forms Notifying Capital Scheme Approval FB1-FB4 2004 Annual Finance 
			 Scheme Monitoring Following Approval MCP100 2004 Continuous Finance 
			 Department of Health Stakeholder Perceptions Audit (DH Stakeholder Survey)  2004 Annual The survey formed part of theDH Performance Partnership Agreement (PPA) with the Cabinet Office 
			 GP Accounts Survey  2004 Continuous Primary care 
			 Monitoring accidents, violence and harassment targets  2005 Annual Workforce 
			 Monthly Monitoring Collection  2005 Monthly Hospital services 
			 Newly Reported HIV Infected Persons (Cumulative) A(C)A1 2005 Annual Hospital services 
			 Newly Reported HIV Infected Persons (In Year) A(C)A2 2005 Annual Hospital services 
			 PCT - Analysis of PCT Provisions PCT02 2005 Monthly Finance 
			 PCT Analysis Care Group Analysis of Health Service Purchased PFR1D 2005 Annual Finance 
			 PCT Analysis Care Group Analysis of Health Service Purchased PFR1E 2005 Annual Finance 
			 PCT Analysis Care Group Analysis of Health Service Purchased PFR1F 2005 Annual Finance 
			 PCT Cash Limited Expenditure PFR1A 2005 Annual Finance 
			 PCT Cash Limited Expenditure PFR1B 2005 Annual Finance 
			 Progress On Implementing S21 Of The Disability Discrimination Act  2005 Annual Hospital services 
			 Salaried Doctors Employed under Salaried Doctors Scheme CEN4 2005 Biannual Workforce 
			 Summary of Chiropody Services KT23 2005 Annual Older people 
			 Quarterly Monitoring of Cancer Bookings QMCB 2005 Quarterly Hospital services 
			 Survey of Registration and Inspection of Local Authority and Health Authority Units  2005 Annual Social services 
			 Community Dental Health Services KC64 2006 Annual Primary care 
			 Dental Distance Standards  2006 Quarterly Primary care 
			 Emergency Dental Services -EDS1 EDS1 2006 Annual Primary care 
			 Financial and Workforce Information Return FWIR 2006 Annual Finance 
			 Sickness Absence Collection  2006 Annual Workforce 
			 Monitoring the 50m Central Budget for Specialist Palliative Care  2006 Annual Hospital services 
			 NHS Plan Monitoring of Planned Workforce Increases  2006 Continuous Workforce 
			 Nursing Campaign Return  2006 Annual Workforce 
			 Personal Medical Services  2006 Continuous Workforce 
			 NHS Trust Housekeeping services  2006 Quarterly Estates services 
			 Workforce Finance Return  2006 Annual and monthly Finance 
			 National Orthopaedic Position Statement  2006 Continuous Hospital services 
			 Monthly Choice at 6 months  2006 Continuous Hospital services 
			  Note:  Excludes one-off collections

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many alcohol-related deaths in hospitals in Lancashire there were in each of the last 10 years.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 8 March 2007:
	The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many alcohol-related deaths in hospitals in Lancashire there were in each of the last 10 years. I am replying in her absence. (125172)
	We have interpreted your question as referring to all alcohol-related deaths to residents of Lancashire, whatever the place of death. The attached table provides the number of deaths with an alcohol-related underlying cause in Lancashire county, from 1996 to 2005 (the latest year available).
	So that comparison over time is for a consistent area, deaths in the current Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen unitary authorities, which were part of the former County of Lancashire, have not been included for any year.
	
		
			  Table 1: number of deaths with an alcohol-related underlying cause of death( 1) , Lancashire county( 2) , 1996 to 2005( 3) 
			  Deaths (persons) 
			   Number 
			 1996 127 
			 1997 139 
			 1998 125 
			 1999 157 
			 2000 143 
			 2001 179 
			 2002 162 
			 2003 171 
			 2004 178 
			 2005 198 
			 (1) Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) for the years 1996 to 2000, and Tenth Revision (ICD-10) for 2001 onwards. The specific causes of death categorised as alcohol-related, and their corresponding ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes, are shown in the boxes. The introduction of ICD-10 in 2001 means that the numbers of deaths from this cause before 2001 are not completely comparable with later years. (2) Based on the boundaries of Lancashire county as of 2007. Deaths in Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen unitary authorities are not included for any year. (3) Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year. 
		
	
	
		
			  Box 1. alcohol-related causes of death—International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) 
			  Cause of death  ICD-9 code(s) 
			 Alcoholic psychoses 291 
			 Alcohol dependence syndrome 303 
			 Non-dependent abuse of alcohol 305 
			 Alcoholic cardiomyopathy 425.5 
			 Alcoholic fatty liver 571 
			 Acute alcoholic hepatitis 571.1 
			 Alcoholic cirrhosis of liver 571.2 
			 Alcoholic liver damage, unspecified 571.3 
			 Chronic hepatitis 571.4 
			 Cirrhosis of liver without mention of alcohol 571.5 
			 Other chronic non-alcoholic liver disease 571.8 
			 Unspecified chronic liver disease without mention of alcohol 571.9 
			 Accidental poisoning by alcohol E860 
		
	
	
		
			  Box 2: alcohol-related causes of death—International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) 
			  Cause of death  ICD-10 code(s) 
			 Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol F10 
			 Degeneration of nervous system due to alcohol G31.2 
			 Alcoholic polyneuropathy G62.1 
			 Alcoholic cardiomyopathy I42.6 
			 Alcoholic gastritis K29.2 
			 Alcoholic liver disease K70 
			 Chronic hepatitis, not elsewhere classified K73 
			 Fibrosis and cirrhosis of liver (excl. Biliary cirrhosis) K74 (excl. K74.3-K74.5) 
			 Alcohol induced chronic pancreatitis K86.0 
			 Accidental poisoning by and exposure to alcohol X45 
			 Intentional self-poisoning by and exposure to alcohol X65 
			 Poisoning by and exposure to alcohol, undetermined intent Y15

Departmental Overspend

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 23 February 2007,  Official Report, column 981W, how the Department of Health's resource budget has been reprofiled over the 2004 Spending Review period, as referred to in paragraph C.74 of his 2006 Budget Report; and what the Department of Health's near-cash budgetary limit was in 2005-06  (a) before and  (b) after this reprofiling.

Stephen Timms: Chapter 2 of the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses compares the latest plans for DEL and AME with the plans set out in the previous year. Provisional spending estimates, including resource and near-cash estimates, are published in the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses and the Public Expenditure Outturns White Paper. These are updated alongside the Budget and pre-Budget report.

Development Aid

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of the Secretary of State for International Development of 30 January 2007,  Official Report, column 165W, on development aid, if he will break down the ODA attributable to his Department in each year by  (a) programme and  (b) agency.

Hilary Benn: I have been asked to reply.
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 22 February 2007,  Official Report, column 876W.

MRSA: Lancashire

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many people died after contracting MRSA in Lancashire in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many people died after contracting clostridium difficile in Lancashire in each of the last five years.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 8 March 2007:
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions asking how many people died after contracting MRSA, and how many people died after contracting  Clostridium difficile, in Lancashire in each of the last five years. (125170 & 125171)
	Special analyses of deaths involving MRSA and  Clostridium difficile are undertaken annually by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for England and Wales. These are published in Health Statistics Quarterly. The latest year for which such figures are available is 2005.
	It is not possible from ONS mortality statistics to state where a person contracted MRSA or  Clostridium difficile. Therefore, the tables below show the number of deaths where MRSA or  Clostridium difficile was mentioned on the death certificate or was the underlying cause of death, in residents of the county of Lancashire.
	
		
			  Table 1: number of death certificates where Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus( 1)  was (a) mentioned and (b) recorded as the underlying cause of death( 2) , in residents of Lancashire( 3) , 2001-05( 4) 
			   (a) mentioned  (b) underlying cause of death 
			 2001 7 2 
			 2002 10 5 
			 2003 16 8 
			 2004 17 4 
			 2005 25 9 
			 (1) Identified using the methodology described in Griffiths C, Lamagni TL, Crowcroft NS, Duckworth G and Rooney C (2004). Trends in MRSA in England and Wales: analysis of morbidity and mortality data for 1993-2002. Health Statistics Quarterly 21, 15-22. (2) Excludes neonatal deaths. Since 1986 ONS has used the internationally recommended death certificate for neonatal deaths. This means that these deaths cannot be assigned an underlying cause of death*. (3) Excludes deaths to residents of Blackpool UA and Blackburn with Darwent UA. (4) Data are for deaths occurring in each calendar year. * Office for National Statistics (2005) Mortality Statistics: Childhood Infant and Perinatal, Series DH3 No.36, Office for National Statistics: London. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: number of death certificates where Clostridium difficile( 1)  was (a) mentioned and (b) recorded as the underlying cause of death( 2) , in residents of Lancashire( 3) , 1997-2004( 4) 
			   (a) mentioned  (b) underlying cause of death 
			 2001 15 9 
			 2002 16 8 
			 2003 26 14 
			 2004 28 18 
			 2005 50 26 
			 (1) Identified using the methodology described in Office for National Statistics (2005) Report: Deaths involving Clostridium difficile: England and Wales, 1999-2004. Health Statistics Quarterly 30, 56-60. (2) Excludes neonatal deaths. Since 1986 ONS has used the internationally recommended death certificate for neonatal deaths. This means that these deaths cannot be assigned an underlying cause of death*. (3) Excludes deaths to residents of Blackpool UA and Blackburn with Darwent UA. (4) Data are for deaths occurring in each calendar year. * Office for National Statistics (2005) Mortality Statistics: Childhood Infant and Perinatal, Series DH3 No.36, Office for National Statistics: London.

Nitrous Oxide: Death

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many nitrous oxide related deaths there were in the United Kingdom in each of the last five years.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 8 March 2007:
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many nitrous oxide related deaths there were in the United Kingdom in each of the last five years. (125167)
	The most recent year for which figures are available is 2005. The attached table shows the number of deaths from toxic effect of nitrogen oxide and poisoning by inhaled anaesthetics, where nitrous oxide was mentioned on the death certificate or in the coroners text.
	
		
			  Deaths from toxic effect of nitrogen oxide( 1)  or poisoning by inhaled anaesthetics( 2) , where nitrous oxide was mentioned, United Kingdom, 2001 to 2005( 3) 
			   Number 
			 2001 2 
			 2002 0 
			 2003 0 
			 2004 1 
			 2005 0 
			 (1) Selected using International Classification of Disease, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) code T59.0. (2) Selected using International Classification of Disease, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) code T41.0. (3) Figures are for deaths occurring in each calendar year for England and Wales and for deaths registered in each calendar year for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Revenue and Customs: Publicity

Ian Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much HM Revenue and Customs spent on marketing and advertising to promote self-assessment online in  (a) 2002-03,  (b) 2003-04,  (c) 2004-05 and  (d) 2005-06; and what the budget is for 2006-07.

Dawn Primarolo: Our online service is highlighted in all our advertising. However, the media spend promoting self-assessment online is as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2002-03 (1)— 
			 2003-04 1,753,877 
			 2004-05 2,244,196 
			 2005-06 2,244,769 
			 2006-07 481,753 
			 (1) Detailed breakdown not available.

Teenage Pregnancy: Lancashire

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many teenage pregnancies there were in Lancashire in each of the last 10 years, broken down into  (a) under 16-year-olds and  (b) over 16-year-olds.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 8 March 2007:
	The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many teenage pregnancies there were in Lancashire in each of the last 10 years, broken down into  (a) under 16-year-olds and  (b) over 16-year-olds. I am replying in her absence. (125236)
	Available figures are estimates of the number of pregnancies that resulted in a live birth, stillbirth or termination.
	Number of conceptions to women aged under 16 and over 16 in Lancashire for the years 1996-2005 (the most recent year for which figures are available), are shown in the attached table. Figures for 2005 are provisional.
	
		
			  Number of conceptions to women aged under 16 and over 16 in Lancashire, 1996-2005 
			   Conceptions to women aged under 16  Conceptions to women aged over 16 
			 1996 200 15,825 
			 1997 175 15,486 
			 1998 195 15,442 
			 1999 168 14,660 
			 2000 214 14,838 
			 2001 180 14,230 
			 2002 201 14,834 
			 2003 186 15,346 
			 2004 159 15,755 
			 2005(1) 181 15,814 
			 (1) 2005 conceptions are provisional.

Children: Protection

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many part 8 reviews took place in England in the last year for which figures are available; and what conclusions his Department has drawn from these reviews.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 27 February 2007
	The Child Protection Database, maintained by the Commissioner for Social Care Inspection, indicates the cases that were the subject of a Serious Case Review (SCR). To date, in the year 2005-06, 55 cases have been confirmed as the subject of a Serious Case Review.
	The Department for Education and Skills is responsible for identifying and disseminating common themes and threads across SCR's, and acting on lessons for policy and practice. An 'overview' report on the previous case reviews which took place in the period 2003-05 will be published in the summer of this year.

Education Maintenance Allowance: Leeds

Colin Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students living in Elmet constituency were in receipt of education maintenance allowance (EMA) in each year since its inception; and what total amount was paid to students living in the Elmet constituency in EMA payments in each year since its inception.

Phil Hope: This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council, who operate education maintenance allowances for the DfES and hold the information about take-up of the scheme. Mark Haysom, the Council's Chief Executive, has written to the hon. Member with the information requested and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
	 Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 8 February 2007:
	I am writing in response to your Parliamentary Question 118424 that asked; "How many students living in the Elmet constituency were in receipt of education maintenance allowance (EMA) in each year since its inception; and what total amount was paid to students living in the Elmet constituency in EMA payments in each year since its inception."
	Information on the number of young people who have applied, enrolled and received education maintenance allowance is available at local authority level, but not at constituency level. EMA take-up is defined as young people who have received one or more EMA payments in the academic year.
	EMA take-up for Leeds local authority area during each academic year since inception is as follows:
	2004/05—5651
	2005/06—6341
	2006/07—7012 (to end of January)
	Financial information is only available at national level, not at local authority, or constituency level.
	I hope this answers your question

Free School Meals

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his latest estimate is of the annual cost of free school lunches; what proportion of the English school population takes free school lunches; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Knight: The Department does not collect information on the cost of free school meals. Individual local authorities or, where the budget for school meals is delegated to them, school governing bodies decide the monetary 'value' of a free school meal. We believe that they are best placed to know the individual circumstances within their area, or school, and that is why the decision should be made at local level.
	The table provides information on pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and who took a free school meal.
	
		
			  Maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools( 1) : School meal arrangements( 2) —as at January 2006—England 
			   Nursery and primary schools  Secondary schools 
			 Number on roll 4,187,630 3,309,720 
			 Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals 670,340 448,680 
			 Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals 16.0 13.6 
			 Number of pupils who took a free school meal on the day of the Census 556,180 328,750 
			 Percentage of pupils who took a free school meal on the day of the Census 13.3 9.9 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes pupils with sole and dual (main) registration.  Source: School Census

General Certificate of Secondary Education: East Sussex

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of pupils at state schools in  (a) Eastbourne and  (b) East Sussex achieved five or more A* to C grades in GCSEs in each of the last 10 years.

Jim Knight: The information requested is given in the following table.
	
		
			  Percentage of pupils in maintained schools gaining 5+ A*-C grades at GCSE or equivalent. 
			   1997( 1)  1998( 1)  1999( 1)  2000( 1)  2001( 1)  2002( 1)  2003( 1)  2004( 1, 2)  2005( 1, 2)  2006( 2, 3) 
			 Eastbourne constituency(4) 44.2 44.5 48.7 47.4 45.4 43.6 46.0 52.0 55.7 58.2 
			 East Sussex local authority 45.5 46.9 49.6 51.0 50.3 51.2 52.8 54.3 54.5 55.4 
			 (1 )Figures are for pupils aged 15 (2 )From 2004 includes GCSEs and other equivalent qualifications approved for use pre-16 (3 )From 2006 figures are for pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 and 2006 data is revised data (4 )Based on location of school

Higher Education: Lancashire

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of  (a) 18 and  (b) 19-year-olds from Lancashire joined university courses in each of the last 10 years.

Bill Rammell: The latest available figures on participation in higher education by local authority were published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in January 2005 in "Young Participation in England", which is available from their website at:
	http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2005/05_03/.
	This report shows participation rates for young people who enter higher education aged 18 or 19, disaggregated by local authority, for the years 1997 to 2000. The figures for Lancashire local authority, and the comparable figure for England, are shown in the following table. HEFCE have not produced participation rates beyond 2000.
	
		
			  Young participation rate (YPR (A)) in higher education( 1)  for year cohort aged 18 
			   1997  1998  1999  2000 
			 Cohort for Lancashire(2) 14,010 14,490 14,360 14,030 
			 Young participation rate (A) for Lancashire(3) (Percentage) 31 30 30 31 
			 Young Participation Rate (A) for England (Percentage) 29.2 28.8 29.2 29.9 
			 (1) Covers all students studying higher education courses at UK higher education institutions and other UK institutions, for example further education colleges. (2) Cohorts are reported to the nearest 10. (3) Young participation rates for constituencies are reported to the nearest per cent.  Source: Higher Education Funding Council for England. 
		
	
	The total numbers of undergraduate entrants to UK higher education institutions from Lancashire local authority for each year since 2001-02 are given in the following table.
	
		
			  Entrants to undergraduate courses( 1)  from Lancashire local authority 
			   2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06 
			 Aged 18 3,530 3,570 3,445 3,535 3,885 
			 Aged 19 1,550 1,460 1,505 1,595 1,535 
			 Other ages(2) 9,005 10,610 10,640 10,225 10,720 
			 Total entrants 14,090 15,635 15,590 15,355 16,140 
			 (1) Covers all students studying higher education courses at UK higher education institutions only. Students studying higher education courses elsewhere such as further education colleges are excluded. (2) Includes a very small number of students with unknown ages or ages under 18.  Note: Figures are based on the HESA standard registration population for entrants and have been rounded to the nearest five, so components may not sum to totals.  Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) 
		
	
	The Department uses the higher education initial participation rate (HEIPR) to assess progress on increasing first-time participation of English students aged 18 to 30 in higher education towards 50 per cent: the latest provisional figure for 2004-05 is 42 per cent. The HEIPR is not calculated at local authority level.

Pupils: Absenteeism

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many  (a) unauthorised and  (b) authorised absences were recorded at (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools in Lancashire in each year from 1997 to 2006.

Jim Knight: The percentage of half days missed in primary and secondary schools in Lancashire local authority due to authorised and unauthorised absence in each year since 1997 are shown as follows.
	
		
			  Pupil absence (percentage of half days missed) in maintained primary schools( 1)  in Lancashire LEA 1997/98 to 2005/06( 2,3) 
			  Type of absence  1997/98  1998/99  1999/2000  2000/01  2001/02  2002/03  2003/04  2004/05  2005/06 (final) 
			 Authorised 5.2 5.0 4.9 5.0 5.04 4.88 4.72 4.68 4.81 
			 Unauthorised 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.34 0.31 0.32 0.34 0.35 
		
	
	
		
			  Pupil absence (percentage of half days missed) in maintained secondary schools( 1)  in Lancashire LEA 1997/98 to 2005/06( 2,3) 
			  Local authority  1997/98  1998/99  1999/2000  2000/01  2001/02  2002/03  2003/04  2004/05  2005/06 
			 Authorised 7.6 7.8 7.5 7.9 7.75 7.15 7.25 6.94 6.84 
			 Unauthorised 0.8 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.82 0.82 0.88 0.93 0.94 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Due to Local Government Reorganisation, regional figures are not available prior to 1998. (3) Figures for Lancashire local authority are available to 1 decimal place prior to 2001/02 and two decimal places from 2001/02 onwards. 
		
	
	Unauthorised absence is absence without leave from a teacher or other authorised representative of the school. This includes all unexplained or unjustified absences, such as lateness, holidays during term time not authorised by the school, absence where reason is not yet established and truancy.

Specialist Schools: East Sussex

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which schools in  (a) Eastbourne and  (b) East Sussex that are designated as specialist (i) sports colleges, (ii) technology colleges, (iii) language colleges, (iv) arts and humanities colleges and (v) business and enterprise colleges.

Jim Knight: There are five sports colleges, six technology colleges, two language colleges and six arts colleges in East Sussex local authority, including one technology college and three arts colleges in Eastbourne. In addition: Hailsham community college (sports) also has a business and enterprise second specialism; Chailey school (language) has a humanities second specialism; and Uplands community college (technology) has second specialism in arts. The schools are:
	
		
			  Main Specialism Second Specialism 
			  (a) Specialist Schools in Eastbourne   
			 Eastbourne Technology College Technology  
			 Ratton School Arts  
			 The Cavendish School Arts  
			 Willingdon Community School Arts  
			
			  (b) Specialist Schools in East Sussex local authority   
			 Beacon Community College Sports Science 
			 Claverham Community College Sports  
			 Hailsham Community College Sports Business and Enterprise 
			 William Parker School Sports  
			 Seaford Head Community College Sports and Science (Combined)  
			 Bexhill High School Technology  
			 Ringmer Community College Technology Vocational 
			 Tideway School Technology  
			 Uckfield Community Technology College Technology  
			 Uplands Community College Technology Arts 
			 Chailey School Language Humanities 
			 Hillcrest School Language  
			 Helenswood School Arts  
			 Priory School Arts Language, Science

Teachers: Qualifications

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of  (a) English,  (b) language,  (c) science,  (d) mathematics,  (e) design and technology and  (f) history teachers in (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools in Chorley constituency have formal qualifications to teach the subject concerned.

Jim Knight: The information requested is not collected centrally.
	The following table provides full-time teachers in maintained secondary schools by the highest post A level qualification held in the subjects they teach.
	
		
			  Teachers in Service: Full-time teachers in maintained secondary schools—Highest post A level qualification( 1) held in the subjects they teach( 2) to year groups 7-13 
			   Percentages  
			   Degree( 3)  BEd  PGCE  Cert Ed  Other Qual.  No Qual.  Total teachers (Thousand) 
			 Mathematics 42 ± 3 15 ± 2 9 ± 2 7 ± 1 2 ± 1 24 ± 2 28.2 
			 English 51 ± 3 15 ± 2 7 ± 1 6 ± 1 1 ± 1 20 ± 2 29.4 
			 
			 Combined/General science 62 ± 3 12 ± 2 10 ± 2 4 ± 1 1 ± 1 11 ± 2 28.3 
			 Biology(4) 71 ± 5 7 ± 3 11 ± 4 3 ± 2 - ± 1 7 ± 3 5.6 
			 Chemistry(4) 72 ± 5 6 ± 3 12 ± 4 1 ± 1 1 ± 1 7 ± 3 5.2 
			 Physics(4) 63 ± 6 11 ± 4 15 ± 4 3 ± 2 - ± - 8 ± 3 4.7 
			 Other sciences(4) 10 ± 6 4 ± 4 5 ± 4 - ± - - ± - 80 ± 8 1.6 
			 
			 French 54 ± 3 7 ± 2 10 ± 2 3 ± 1 2 ± 1 23 ± 3 16.0 
			 German 47 ± 5 6 ± 3 13 ± 4 1 ± 1 2 ± 1 30 ± 5 6.9 
			 Spanish 37 ± 7 8 ± 4 19 ± 6 - ± - 3 ± 2 33 ± 7 3.6 
			 Other modern languages 18 ± 8 - ± - 9 ± 7 - ± - 3 ± 4 71 ±10 1.4 
			 
			 Design and technology(5) 26 ± 3 20 ± 3 7 ± 2 21 ± 3 2 ± 1 24 ± 3 20.9 
			 ICT(5, 6) 13 ± 2 6 ± 1 8 ± 2 2 ± 1 3 ± 1 69 ± 3 18.9 
			 Other/Combined technology(5) 30± 1 0 13 ± 8 16 ± 7 18 ± 9 2 ± 3 20 ± 9 1.6 
			 
			 Business studies 30 ± 5 11 ± 4 9 ± 3 4 ± 2 3 ± 2 43 ± 5 6.5 
			 Classics 33 ± 7 - ± - 2 ± 4 2 ± - - ± - 63 ± 7 1.0 
			 History 57 ± 4 9 ± 2 6 ± 2 6 ± 2 - ± - 23 ± 3 13.7 
			 Religious education 22 ± 3 8 ± 2 8 ± 2 4 ± 1 2 ± 1 57 ± 4 14.2 
			 Geography 53 ± 4 9 ± 2 6 ± 2 5 ± 2 1 ± 1 25 ± 3 13.7 
			 Other social studies 35 ± 5 6 ± 3 2 ± 2 2 ± 1 - ± 1 54 ± 6 4.9 
			 Combined arts/humanities/ social studies 5 ± 3 4 ± 2 7 ± 3 1 ± 1 1 ± 1 83 ± 5 5.3 
			 
			 Music 59 ± 5 15 ± 4 5 ± 2 6 ± 3 2 ± 2 13 ± 4 6.3 
			 Drama 25 ± 4 10 ± 3 12 ± 3 6 ± 2 2 ± 1 45 ± 5 8.1 
			 Art and design 54 ± 4 10 ± 3 7 ± 2 9 ± 3 1 ± 1 20 ± 4 9.3 
			 Physical education 25 ± 3 31 ± 3 6 ± 2 13 ± 2 2 ± 1 22 ± 2 21.4 
			 Careers education 2 ± 2 1 ± 2 3 ± 3 4 ± 4 3 ± 4 87 ± 7 1.5 
			 PSHE(6) 1 ± - 1 ± - 2 ± 1 1 ± - - ± - 95 ± 1 61.4 
			 General studies 1 ± 1 2 ± 1 1 ± 1 - ± 1 - ± - 95 ± 2 7.1 
			 Citizenship 2 ± 1 1 ± 1 2 ± 1 - ± 1 - ± - 94 ± 2 9.0 
			 Other — — — — — — 32.8 
			 
			 Total(2, 7) 33 ± - 10 ±- 7 ± - 5 ± - 1 ± - 44 ± - 388.4 
			 '-' = zero or less than 0.5. (1) Where a teacher has more than one post A level qualification in the same subject, the qualification level is determined by the highest level reading from left (Degree) to right (Other Qual.). For example, teachers shown under PGCE have a PGCE but not a degree or BEd in the subject, while those with a PGCE and a degree are shown only under Degree. (2) Teachers are counted once against each subject which they are teaching. (3) Includes higher degrees but excludes BEds. (4) Teachers qualified in combined/general science are treated as qualified to teach biology, chemistry, or physics. Teachers qualified in biology, chemistry or physics are treated as qualified to teach combined/general science. (5) Teachers qualified in other/combined technology are treated as qualified to teach design and technology or information and communication technology. Teachers qualified in design and technology or information and communication technology are treated as qualified to teach other/combined technology. (6) Information and Communication Technology is abbreviated as ICT and Personal Social and Health Education is abbreviated as PSHE. (7) 'Other' not included in total percentages.  Source: Secondary Schools Curriculum and Staffing Survey 2002.

Truancy

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils in  (a) England and  (b) Northamptonshire had at least one unauthorised absence in the last year for which figures are available.

Jim Knight: The number of day pupils of compulsory school age and number of pupils absent with the average number of half days missed for each of these pupils due to unauthorised absence is given in the following table.
	
		
			  Half days missed due to unauthorised absence per pupil in maintained primary and secondary schools( 1)  2005/06 
			Unauthorised absence 
			   Number of day pupils of compulsory school age  Number of pupils absent  Average number of half days missed 
			  Primary schools
			 Northamptonshire 47,781 8,135 8 
			 England 3,493,047 604,320 8 
			 
			  Secondary schools
			 Northamptonshire 40,539 13,772 12 
			 England 3,001,517 794,877 14 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed 
		
	
	Unauthorised absence is defined as absence without leave from a teacher or other authorised representative of the school. This includes truancy but also covers other forms of unexplained or unjustified absences, such as lateness, holidays during term time not authorised by the school and absence where the reason is not yet established. It is not therefore possible to identify absence from truancy alone.